Asian equity benchmarks are trading up in the early deals on Friday tracking the overnight gains on Wall Street and the rebound in crude oil prices. Investors will also focus on the two-day G20 meeting starting in Shanghai on Friday. Chinese stocks gained after the head of the central bank said the world's number two economy is strong, and promised it still has enough monetary policy firepower to keep it on track. Meanwhile, Japan's Nikkei soared after risk sentiment recovered on Wall Street's gains and the weak yen, but individual stocks such as Sharp Corp were also in focus.
Nikkei 225 added 170.63 points or 1.06% to 16,310.97, Hang Seng surged 308.39 points or 1.63% to 19,197.14, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 4.19 points or 0.25% to 1,662.35, Straits Times jumped 31.85 points or 1.22% to 2,635.25, Jakarta Composite added 47.41 points or 1.02% to 4,705.73, Taiwan Weighted spurt 14.67 points or 0.18% to 8,380.53, Shanghai Composite strengthen 11.84 points or 0.43% to 2,753.09, and KOSPI Index was up by 3.86 points or 0.20% to 1,922.43.