All the Asian equity benchmarks, barring Shanghai Composite, are trading higher in early deals on Friday, tracking cues from Wall Street where the major averages moved up sharply overnight on the back of some upbeat economic data. The Japanese stock market rose sharply by around two percent, with investors indulging in some hectic buying across the board. Bargain hunting after recent losses too contributed to the sharp up-move. However, the Chinese market was marginally in red after report that China’s services sector grew at its slowest pace in almost 2-1/2 years in January. Among other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea and Taiwan are all trading notably higher.
Hang Seng rose 166.79 points or 0.78% to 21,589.92, Jakarta Composite increased 39.56 points or 0.89% to 4,464.27, KLSE Composite jumped 6.86 points or 0.38% to 1,804.76, Nikkei 225 surged 271.19 points or 1.92% to 14,426.31, Straits Times strengthened 24.84 points or 0.83% to 3,013.11, Seoul Composite added 10.24 points or 0.54% to 1,918.13 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 86.77 points or 1.04% to 8,397.78.
On the flip side, Shanghai Composite was down by 4.74 points or 0.23% to 2,028.35.