Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading up in the early deals on Friday, tracking the positive lead overnight from Wall Street amid optimism that the US Federal Reserve will delay raising interest rates. Meanwhile, the Japanese shares rose after gains on Wall Street and upbeat US price and jobless claims data eased recent concerns over the US economy, while rising expectations of further Bank of Japan stimulus fuelled buying. Among the other Asian markets, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Singapore, and Malaysia are up with modest gains. Bucking the trend, South Korea, and Taiwan are marginally lower.
Nikkei 225 added 221.31 points or 1.22% to 18,318.21, Hang Seng jumped 131.21 points or 0.57% to 23,019.38, Shanghai Composite gained 10.50 points or 0.31% to 3,348.58, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 2.00 points or 0.12% to 1,715.25, Straits Times surged 17.17 points or 0.57% to 3,032.31, and Jakarta Composite was up by 1.56 points or 0.03% to 4,508.76.
On the flip side, KOSPI Index dropped 5.00 points or 0.25% to 2,028.27, and Taiwan Weighted was down by 13.61 points or 0.16% to 8,587.91.