Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading up in the early deals on Monday after US stocks closed at record highs on Friday despite weaker than expected jobs data for December 2017 and a fall in crude oil prices. Investors are also optimistic about strong earnings results from regional companies later this week. The Japanese market is closed for the ‘Coming of Age’ holiday. Among the other Asian markets, Malaysia, South Korea, Shanghai, Indonesia, Taiwan and Singapore are higher. Bucking the trend, Hong Kong is in negative territory.
FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI gained 6.36 points or 0.35% to 1,824.33, KOSPI Index rose 10.3 points or 0.41% to 2,507.82, Shanghai Composite spurt 11.71 points or 0.35% to 3,403.46, Jakarta Composite added 5.41 points or 0.09% to 6,359.15, Taiwan Weighted increased 21.6 points or 0.2% to 10,901.40, and Straits Times was up by 7.64 points or 0.22% to 3,497.09.
On the flip side, Hang Seng was down by 13.58 points or 0.04% to 30,801.06.