Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading up in the early deals on Tuesday, following the global rally on Monday after encouraging results from the French presidential election helped ease worries over political instability in Europe. Crude oil prices rebounded in Asian trades. Nevertheless, investors are cautious as they kept an eye on North Korea, which is marking the 85th anniversary of the Korean People's Army on Tuesday, amid news that the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier-led battle group is nearing the Korean peninsula. Meanwhile, Japan's Nikkei share average retook the 19,000 level for the first time in three weeks, buoyed by Wall Street gains. Among the other Asian markets, South Korea, Shanghai, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Taiwan are all higher, bucking the trend, Indonesia is lower.
Nikkei 225 gained 151.47 points or 0.8% to 19,027.35, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI added 3.4 points or 0.19% to 1,759.45, Shanghai Composite increased 13.14 points or 0.42% to 3,142.67, KOSPI Index rose 13.99 points or 0.64% to 2,187.73, Taiwan Weighted strengthen 67.78 points or 0.7% to 9,785.73, Hang Seng spurt 227.5 points or 0.94% to 24,366.98, and Straits Times was up by 15.33 points or 0.49% to 3,159.36.
On the flip side, Jakarta Composite was down by 5.33 points or 0.09% to 5,659.15.