Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading higher in the early deals on Friday, with the positive cues overnight from Wall Street and the surge in crude oil prices to above $40 a barrel boosting investor sentiment. China stocks rose as the weaker dollar continued to ease worries on capital outflows from China. However, a resurgent yen sent Japanese shares lower. Among the other Asian markets, South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Indonesia and Malaysia are up with modest gains.
Hang Seng surged 140.01 points or 0.68% to 20,643.82, Shanghai Composite increased 54.62 points or 1.88% to 2,959.45, Jakarta Composite gained 5.30 points or 0.11% to 4,890.98, Straits Times strengthen 20.89 points or 0.73% to 2,901.06, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI jumped 4.34 points or 0.25% to 1,707.53, KOSPI Index spurt 1.30 points or 0.07% to 1,989.29, and Taiwan Weighted was up by 52.57 points or 0.60% to 8,787.11.
On the flip side, Nikkei 225 was down by 255.75 points or 1.51% to 16,680.63.