Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading up in the early deals on Friday, tracking the rally in US stocks that was driven by strong gains by energy companies and retailers. Rising oil prices also lifted sentiment. The retailers' earnings fueled optimism for the US government's latest monthly tally of retail sales Friday. Meanwhile, the Shanghai Composite rose after fixed asset investment, retail sales and industrial output all rose but were below expectations. Fixed asset investment from January to July increased by 8.1 percent from a year earlier, the slowest rate in more than 16 years, compared with expectations for 8.8 percent. July retail sales increased 10.2 percent, versus 10.6 percent the previous month and a forecast 10.5 percent. Industrial output rose 6.0 percent from a year earlier, slowing from June's 6.2 percent and just missing forecasts of 6.1 percent. Among the other Asian markets, Japan, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Taiwan are in positive territory. Bucking the trend, Indonesia, South Korea and Singapore are marginally lower.
Nikkei 225 gained 164.69 points or 0.98% to 16,899.81, Hang Seng added 174.96 points or 0.77% to 22,755.51, Taiwan Weighted rose 12.22 points or 0.13% to 9,144.05, Shanghai Composite surged 7.07 points or 0.24% to 3,009.71, and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was up by 3.70 points or 0.22% to 1,682.50.
On the flip side, Straits Times declined 3.33 points or 0.12% to 2,866.49, Jakarta Composite dipped 0.65 points or 0.01% to 5,418.43, and KOSPI Index was down by 1.00 points or 0.05% to 2,047.80.