Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading higher in the early deals on Friday, following the overnight gains on Wall Street as the rebound in crude oil prices and expectations of more stimulus from the European Central Bank boosted investor sentiment. Meanwhile, Japanese stocks rebounded as the safe-haven yen weakened against the US dollar on easing risk aversion, boosting exporters' stocks. Among the other Asian markets, Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Indonesia are also higher. However Chinese stocks slipped as investors assessed comments by officials on the domestic market at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Nikkei 225 surged 654.43 points or 4.09% to 16,671.69, Hang Seng added 261.95 points or 1.41% to 18,804.10, Taiwan Weighted strengthen 54.28 points or 0.71% to 7,718.29, KOSPI Index gained 25.58 points or 1.39% to 1,866.11, Jakarta Composite increased 9.81 points or 0.22% to 4,423.94, Straits Times spurt 29.44 points or 1.16 % to 2,562.14, and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was up by 15.40 points or 0.96% to 1,616.32.
On the flip side, Shanghai Composite was down by 8.06 points or 0.28% to 2,872.42.