Japanese stocks lead gains in Asia on Thursday
Japanese stocks were leading gains in Asia on Thursday despite disappointing trade figures that showed exports had fallen for a fourth straight month.
The Nikkei 225 was up 2.4% in mid morning trade to 16,217.91.
Rising oil prices were supporting investor sentiment together with better-than-forecast economic data from the US. Australia’s ASX 200 index was higher by 2.07% to 4,983.40.
Big energy companies were supporting the index with giants like BHP up more than 5.5% on higher oil prices.
In China, markets were also in positive territory, with Hong Kong’s Hang Sengindex up 2.29% to 19,358.22 and the Shanghai Composite up 0.33% to 2,877.03.
Fresh official numbers showed that inflation in China rose to 1.8% in January, slightly weaker than analysts expected.
Elsewhere, South Korea’s Kospi index was up 0.9% to 1,900.83 in line with the rest of the region.
Source: BBC
