Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading higher in the early deals on Monday, tracking the positive cues from Wall Street last Friday. Japanese shares rebounded sharply on the heels of a rally in European bank stocks and on Wall Street after the benchmark index posted the worst weekly drop since 2008 on Friday. The market's rebound offset dismal domestic data released in the morning. Japan's economy contracted an annualised 1.4 percent in the final quarter of last year as consumer spending slumped, adding to headaches for policymakers already wary of damage the financial market rout could inflict on a fragile recovery. However, Chinese shares fell more than 1 percent as trading resumed after the Lunar New Year break and investors caught up with wild swings in global markets, while Beijing took another swipe at currency devaluation talk with a strong fix for the yuan. Among the other Asian markets, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, South Korea, and Singapore are in positive territory.
Nikkei 225 surged 953.78 points or 6.38 % to 15,906.39, Hang Seng spurt 538.05 points or 2.94 % to 18,857.63, Straits Times added 65.74 points or 2.59% to 2,605.69, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI gained 12.61 points or 0.77% to 1,656.35, KOSPI Index strengthen 23.80 points or 1.30% to 1,859.08, and Jakarta Composite was up by 23.18 points or 0.49% to 4,737.57.
On the flip side, Taiwan Weighted decreased 13.86 points or 0.17% to 8,049.14, and Shanghai Composite was down by 39.19 points or 1.42% to 2,724.31.