Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading up in the early deals on Thursday as speculation the US Federal Reserve might opt to not raise interest rates at all this year hammered the dollar and sparked a huge rally in oil prices. Meanwhile, Chinese stocks advanced as commodity producers gained and the central bank stepped up efforts to ease a cash shortage before mainland markets close for the lunar New Year holidays next week. Among the other Asian markets, Hong Kong, South Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore are also higher. Bucking the trend, Japanese market is down with modest losses following the mixed lead from Wall Street and the yen's appreciation against the US dollar. Investors also digested weak earnings outlook from major companies. The markets in Taiwan are closed for the start of the long break for the Lunar New Year.
Hang Seng surged 282.88 points or 1.49% to 19,274.47, KOSPI Index gained 23.78 points or 1.26% to 1,914.45, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI spurt 21.65 points or 1.33% to 1,654.95, Jakarta Composite increased 59.49 points or 1.29% to 4,655.60, Straits Times added 14.82 points or 0.58% to 2,565.56, and Shanghai Composite was up by 28.90 points or 1.06% to 2,768.15.
On the flip side, Nikkei 225 was down by 67.46 points or 0.39% to 17,123.79.