Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading up in the early deals on Friday, aided by a higher Wall Street and eased tensions over Greece, while the dollar extended gains versus the euro and yen as economic indicators bolstered expectations for a US rate hike by year-end. The Japanese market rose into a fifth day following the positive lead overnight from Wall Street, but gains were capped as investors refrained from taking big positions before a long weekend. Among the other Asian markets, Shanghai, and Hong Kong are up with modest gains. Meanwhile, South Korea and Taiwan are in negative territory. Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia are closed for the Eid-ul-Fitr holiday.
Nikkei 225 gained 45.88 points or 0.22% to 20,646.00, Hang Seng jumped 258.38 points or 1.03% to 25,421.16 and Shanghai Composite was up by 52.32 points or 1.37% to 3,875.50.
On the flip side, Taiwan Weighted declined 12.49 points or 0.14% to 9,029.72 and KOSPI Index was down by 15.08 points or 0.72% to 2,072.81.