Asian markets trade mostly in green in early deals on Friday

01 Feb 2019 Evaluate

Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading in green in the early deals on Friday, following the mostly positive cues overnight from Wall Street amid upbeat corporate earnings results and on optimism about trade talks between US-China. Gains were limited with a private survey showing that Chinese manufacturing slowed to the lowest level in almost three years. Japan’s Nikkei rose as index-heavyweight stocks got a lift from strong US shares, although disappointing earnings from Nomura Holdings and Nintendo curbed gains. Among the other Asian markets, Singapore, South Korea, Indonesia and Shanghai are higher. Bucking the trend, Hong Kong is lower. The markets in Malaysia and Taiwan are closed for Federal Territory Day and the Lunar New Year holidays, respectively.

Nikkei 225 improved 18.25 points or 0.09% to 20,791.74, Straits Times added 9.14 points or 0.29% to 3,199.31, Jakarta Composite gained 18.09 points or 0.28% to 6,551.06, Shanghai Composite spurt 20.00 points or 0.77% to 2,604.57 and KOSPI Shares up by 0.91 points or 0.04% to 2,205.76.

On the flip side, Hang Seng down by 87.68 points or 0.31% to 27,854.79.

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