Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading up in the early deals on Friday, on track for their biggest monthly rise since January 2012 but headed for weekly losses as investors fretted about the possibility United States interest rates could still rise this year. Among the other Asian markets, Japan, Taiwan, Shanghai, Singapore, South Korea, and Malaysia are up with marginal gains. Meanwhile, Indonesia and Hong kong are in negative territory.
Nikkei 225 surged 41.29 points or 0.22% to 18,977.00, KOSPI Index jumped 1.15 points or 0.06% to 2,035.31, Shanghai Composite Index jumped 4.10 points or 0.12% to 3,391.41, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI added 0.08 points or 1.30% to 1,668.28, Taiwan Weighted increased 111.30 points or 1.14% to 8,575.95 and Straits Times was up by 4.87 points or 0.06% to 3,002.34
On the flip side, Hang Seng decreased 44.69 points or 0.20% to 22,775.25, Jakarta Composite was down by 0.20 points or 8.99% to 4,463.03.