Asian markets trade mostly higher tracking gains on Wall Street

31 Jan 2025 Evaluate

Asian markets are trading mostly higher in early deals on Friday, following the positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The markets are gaining from heavy buying in the tech space and firm metal prices that are pushing up mining stocks. The markets are also reacting positively to some domestic economic data from Japan. The value of retail sales in Japan was up 3.7 percent on year in December, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said - coming in at 16.123 trillion yen. That beat forecasts for an increase of 3.4 percent and was up from 2.8 percent in November. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Economy and Trade said industrial production in Japan was up a seasonally adjusted 0.3 percent on month in December. Moreover, the unemployment rate in Japan came in at a seasonally adjusted 2.4 percent in December. Markets in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan remain closed for the Lunar New Year holidays.

Nikkei 225 surged 137.08 points or 0.35% to 39,651.05, Jakarta Composite gained 75.2 points or 1.05% to 7,148.68 and Straits Times rose 58.24 points or 1.51% to 3,859.31 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was up by 3.89 points or 0.2% to 1,556.58.

On the other hand, KOSPI was down by 33.18 points or 1.33% to 2,503.62.

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