Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading up in the early deals on Monday, after a rebound in crude oil that took prices away from multi-year lows. US crude gained last week thanks to falling inventories, reduced drilling and the lifting of a ban on most US crude exports, moving crude oil prices away from multi-year lows. Investors across asset markets were without some of the usual leads as markets in Europe and North America and many in Asia were closed on Friday for Christmas. The Japanese stock market is up with modest gains as Investors went bargain hunting following the benchmark Nikkei index's five straight days of losses through Friday. Meanwhile, industrial production data released today showed that Japan's industrial output declined for the first time in three months. Japan’s industrial production fell 1 percent on the month in November, worse than economists’ estimates for a 0.5 percent decline. Retail sales also slipped, losing 2.5 percent last month. Economists had estimated a 1.4 percent slide. Among the other Asian markets, Taiwan, Singapore, Indonesia, and Malaysia are all in positive territory. Bucking the trend, Shanghai, South Korea, and Hong Kong are lower.
Nikkei 225 added 80.82 points or 0.43% to 18,849.88, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI surged 10.16 points or 0.61% to 1,673.67, Jakarta Composite increased 12.02 points or 0.27% to 4,534.68, Straits Times gained 2.45 points or 0.09% to 2,880.07, and Taiwan Weighted was up by 9.40 points or 0.11% to 8,372.68.
On the flip side, Shanghai Composite dropped 7.14 points or 0.20% to 3,620.77, Hang Seng declined 90.69 points or 0.41% to 22,047.44, and KOSPI Index was down by 15.24 points or 0.77% to 1,975.41.