The Asian markets have made mostly a positive start of the new week and are trading in green. With U.S. bond and stock markets shut on Monday for Presidents’ Day, investors are turning to corporate and political developments in the region. The Japanese market that was showing some weakness in early deals, weighed down by a larger-than-expected January trade deficit, too has bounced back after the yen dropped from a three-day gain. Hong Kong market was trading higher, after breaking its winning streak on Friday. The country will see January figures for unemployment later today; in December, the jobless rate was 3.3 percent. Yields on sovereign bonds fell in Asia trading, while oil was stable after a two-day advance.
KOSPI Index was up by 1.01 points or 0.05% to 2,081.59, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI gained 3.73 points or 0.22% to 1,711.41, Jakarta Composite added 14.06 points or 0.26% to 5,364.99, Shanghai Composite was higher by 25.25 points or 0.79% to 3,227.33, Nikkei 225 increased by 30.24 points or 0.16% to 19,264.86 and Hang Seng gained 78.11 points or 0.33% to 24,111.85.
On the other hand, Taiwan Weighted was the lone loser, down by 3.7 points or 0.04% to 9,776.22.