Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading up in the early deals on Monday, following the positive lead from Wall Street on Friday and on dovish comments from European Central Bank President Mario Draghi that are seen as a sign that the ECB may ramp up its asset purchase program after its meeting next month. Meanwhile, the Japanese market is closed for the Labor Thanksgiving Day holiday. Among the other Asian markets, South Korea, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and Taiwan are in positive territory, while Shanghai and Hong Kong are down with modest losses.
KOSPI Index surged 15.53 points or 0.78% to 2,005.39, Jakarta Composite gained 14.14 points or 0.31% to 4,575.47, Taiwan Weighted increased 16.04 points or 0.19% to 8,481.49, Shanghai Composite spurt 14.20 points or 0.39% to 3,644.70, and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was up by 10.41 points or 0.63% to 1,672.30.
On the flip side, Hang Seng declined 6.09 points or 0.03% to 22,748.63, and Straits Times was down by 2.11 points or 0.07% to 2,915.80.