Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading up in the early deals on Monday, following the continued recovery on Wall Street last week and as investors digest yet another missile test out of North Korea at the weekend. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump sought to reassure Americans he was focused on efforts to create jobs, cut taxes, and repeal and replace Obamacare despite the recent scandals that have plagued the White House. Japan's Nikkei share average rose following gains in US shares, but the dollar's weakness and US political turmoil kept investors nervous and limited gains in the market. Among the other Asian markets, South Korea, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and Taiwan are all higher. Bucking the trend, Shanghai is in negative territory.
Nikkei 225 added 86.33 points or 0.44% to 19,677.09, Jakarta Composite surged 33.57 points or 0.58% to 5,825.46, Hang Seng jumped 237.39 points or 0.94% to 25,412.26, Taiwan Weighted spurt 29.25 points or 0.29% to 9,976.87, KOSPI Index increased 11.12 points or 0.49% to 2,299.60, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI gained 2.45 points or 0.14% to 1,770.73, and Straits Times was up by 2.70 points or 0.08% to 3,219.62.
On the flip side, Shanghai Composite was down by 7.52 points or 0.24% to 3,083.11.