Most of the Asian equity markets are trading in the green in early deals on Thursday following the overnight gains in US markets on the back of upbeat economic data. Meanwhile, Japanese Nikkei was trading higher by over a percent as stronger dollar triggered some hectic buying across the board. Moreover, retail sales in Japan were up 2.3 percent year on year in October at 11.203 trillion yen, beating forecasts for an increase of 2.1 percent following the downwardly revised gain of 3.0 percent (originally 3.1 percent).
Shanghai Composite surged 28.31 points or 1.29% to 2,229.38, Hang Seng rose 149.80 points or 0.63% to 23,956.15, KLSE Composite increased 5.40 points or 0.30% to 1,803.86, Nikkei 225 soared 169.38 points or 1.10% to 15,619.01, Straits Times strengthened 21.84 points or 0.69% to 3,193.90, Seoul Composite added 14.78 points or 0.73% to 2,043.59 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 71.35 points or 0.86% to 8,367.23.
On the flip side, Jakarta Composite was down by 2.19 points or 0.05% to 4,249.30.
