Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading up in the early deals on Friday despite investor worries about the US political turmoil over an investigation into possible Russian coordination with President Donald Trump's campaign. The Japanese market was trading higher following the overnight rebound on Wall Street. Among the other Asian markets, Malaysia, Hong Kong, South Korea and Shanghai are modestly higher, Bucking the trend, Singapore, Taiwan and Indonesia are edging lower.
Nikkei 225 gained 25.12 points or 0.13% to 19,578.98, Hang Seng increased 78.93 points or 0.31% to 25,215.45, Jakarta Composite added 22.12 points or 0.39% to 5,667.57, KOSPI Index spurt 4.96 points or 0.22% to 2,291.78, and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was up by 3.23 points or 0.18% to 1,770.40.
On the flip side, Taiwan Weighted dipped 7.09 points or 0.07% to 9,962.36, Shanghai Composite decreased 1.68 points or 0.05% to 3,088.46, and Straits Times was down by 2.00 points or 0.06% to 3,219.66.