Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading higher on Friday, as the market sentiments got boosted with the fresh hopes about economic recovery followed by the better than expected US jobs data and mostly upbeat earnings news from big-name companies. Moreover, faster vaccine rollout and on optimism about larger stimulus package also added gains. Oil stocks are advancing cheered by the fourth straight sessional gain in crude oil overnight, and gold miners are in positive trend despite the overnight losses in gold. Japan’s Nikkei is trading in upward direction in tandem with the weaker yen. Among the other Asian markets, Hong Kong ,Singapore, Taiwan, China, South Korea, and Indonesia are in positive note. Bucking the trend Malaysia is trading lower.
Nikkei 225 up by 355.34 points or 1.25% to 28,697.29, Hang Seng increased by 152.45 points or 0.52% to 29,265.95, Straits Times rose by 1.01 points or 0.03% to 2,906.59, Taiwan Weighted enlarged 105.14 points or 0.67% to 15,811.36, KOSPI Index lifted 7.61 points or 0.25% to 3,095.16, Jakarta Composite higher by 19.62 points or 0.32% to 6,126.84 and Shanghai Composite widened by 16.23 points or 0.46% to 3,518.09
On the flip side, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI dipped by 3.67 points 0.23% to 1,581.23.
