Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading up in the early deals on Friday, capping a week where bond volatility from overseas dented markets from Indonesia to Japan and worries about a US rate hike have begun to eat into money flows to the region. The Japanese stocks were choppy, as investors were cautious after another turn for the worse in Greece's debt talks, while Toshiba Corp fell on a report that it will likely admit internal controls were inadequate. Among the other Asian markets, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Singapore, Shanghai and Malaysia are higher with marginal gains. Meanwhile, South Korea and Taiwan are down with modest losses.
Hang Seng increased 176.49 points or 0.66% to 27,084.34, Jakarta Composite rose 7.45 points or 0.15% to 4,936.26, Straits Times added by 2.63 points or 0.08% to 3,350.30 , Shanghai Composite surged 22.45 points or 0.44% to 5,144.04 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was up by 1.56 points or 0.09 % to 1,736.32.
On the flip side, Nikkei 225 contracted 3.72 points or 0.02% to 20,379.25, KOSPI Index declined 7.88 points or 0.38% to 2,048.73 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 11.47 points or 0.12% to 9,291.02.