Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading up in the early deals on Thursday with the overnight gains on US and European markets as well as higher crude oil prices boosting investor sentiment. Investors also got a respite from the wild swings in the Chinese stock market, which is closed for a two-day holiday. Meanwhile, the Japanese market gained for the first time in four days as gains on Wall Street boosted sentiment and bargain hunters flocked to recently battered stocks. The markets in China and Hong Kong are closed on Thursday for Victory Day.
Nikkei 225 gained 228.87 points or 1.26% to 18,324.27, KOSPI Index jumped 0.71 points or 0.04% to 1,915.93, Straits Times increased 26.25 points or 0.91 % to 2,904.38, Taiwan Weighted rose 64.07 points or 0.80 % to 8,099.36, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI added 13.07 points or 0.82 % to 1,603.26 and Jakarta Composite was up by 20.11 points or 0.46 % to 4,421.41.