Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading up in the early deals on Monday, as polls suggested British voters will choose to remain in the European Union in a referendum this week, easing investor worries about a possible ‘Brexit’. Meanwhile, Japanese stocks rose after the yen weakened against major currencies. However, the Shanghai Composite Index was marginally in red, dragged down by property companies after data over weekend showed Chinese home prices rose in fewer cities last month than in April. New-home prices excluding government-subsidized housing climbed in 60 cities in May, down from 65 in April, among the 70 tracked. Among the other Asian markets, South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Malaysia are also in positive territory. Bucking the trend, Indonesia is in negative territory.
Nikkei 225 added 361.91 points or 2.32% to 15,961.57, Hang Seng gained 218.51 points or 1.08% to 20,388.49, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI surged 9.18 points or 0.57% to 1,633.36, KOSPI Index jumped 28.17 points or 1.44% to 1,981.57, Taiwan Weighted spurt 45.84 points or 0.54% to 8,613.92, and Straits Times was up by 33.66 points or 1.22% to 2,797.08.
On the flip side, Jakarta Composite dropped 2.07 points or 0.04% to 4,833.07, and Shanghai Composite was down by 5.02 points or 0.17% to 2,880.08.