Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading higher in the early deals on Friday, the last trading day of 2016, despite the modest losses overnight on Wall Street. Trading volumes remain thin in the absence of any market-moving news. The US dollar weakened, while crude oil prices rebounded in Asian trades. Japan's Nikkei share average rose despite investors took profits from the recent gains on the last trading day of 2016. Among the other Asian markets, Shanghai, South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, Indonesia, and Taiwan are in positive territory. Bucking the trend, Malaysia is lower.
Nikkei 225 rose 12.88 points or 0.07% to 19,158.02, Straits Times increased 11.32 points or 0.39% to 2,900.47, KOSPI Index added 1.97 points or 0.1% to 2,026.46, Shanghai Composite gained 2.21 points or 0.07% to 3,098.31, Jakarta Composite jumped 27.77 points or 0.52% to 5,330.34, Hang Seng surged 212.73 points or 0.98% to 22,003.64, and Taiwan Weighted was up by 82.09 points or 0.9% to 9,239.72.
On the flip side, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 3.49 points or 0.21% to 1,634.44.