Despite a strong lead from Wall Street, Asian stock markets are exhibiting a mixed trend on Friday with investors treading a bit cautiously, reacting to news about a confirmed case of Ebola virus in New York.
The Australian market is trading notably higher, led by gains in financial, consumer discretionary, information technology, industrials and healthcare stocks. Energy stocks are mixed, while miners are a bit flat.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index is up 26.2 points or 0.5 percent at 5,409.3, after rising to 5,420.6 earier. The broader All Ordinaries index, which advanced to 5,406.9, is currently at 5,396.3, up 26.4 points or 0.5 percent from previous close.
Among bank stocks, ANZ Bank, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, National Australia Bank and Westpac (WBK) are up 0.5 to 0.8 percent. Bendigo & Adelaide Bank and Bank of Queensland are moving up 1.2 percent and 1 percent, respectively.
Among top miners, BHP Billiton (BHP) and Rio Tinto (RIO) are down marginally, while Fortescue Metals and Newcrest Mining are lower by 2 percent and 1 percent, respectively.
ResMed Inc (RMD) is moving up 5.6 percent after reporting a six percent increase in net revenue for the September quarter, compared with the year ago period.
Leighton Holdings is advancing nearly 4.5 percent. Qantas Airways is moving up nearly 2 percent. The airliner said that the number of passengers traveling on its domestic and international services rose 2.7 percent last month.
AMP Ltd. shares are up 3 percent after the company said that third-quarter net cash flow more than doubled, compared to the year ago period.
Downer EDI is adding 3.5 percent. Aristocrat Leisure, Monadelphous Group, Graincorp, Harvey Norman Holdings, mineral Resources, QBE Insurance Group, WorleyParsons, Beach Energy, seek and ALS are up 1.5 to 2.5 percent.
In the currency market, the Australian dollar opened lower against the U.S. dollar. In early trades, the local unit was quoting at US$0.8755, down slightly from Thursday's close of US$0.8760.
The Japanese stock market surged higher, with overnight gains on Wall Street and a weaker yen triggering some strong buying at several counters.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was up 119.33 points or 0.79 percent at 15,258.29 at the end of the morning session.
Toho Zinc rose more than 5.5 percent. Hitachi Ltd. shares gained nearly 4.5 percent after the company raised its first-half earnings estimates.
Takara Holdings gained over 4 percent. Sumco Corp., Fujifilm Holdings, Furukawa Co., Daiichi Sankyo, Sumitomo Osaka Cement, Nichirei Corp., Toyo Seikan Group Holdings, Minebea Co., TDK Corp., Sumitomo Osaka Cement and Daikin Industries gained 2 to 3.5 percent.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Taiyo Yuden, Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma, Ebara Corp., Toshiba Corp., Nomura Holdings, Suzuki Motor and Chugai Pharmaceutical Co. also rose sharply.
Meanwhile, Ube Industries, Nikon Corp., Honda Motor (HMC), Teijin, Nissan Motor, Chiba Bank and Resona Holdings were in negative territory, losing 0.5 to 1.2 percent.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar traded in the lower 108 yen level in early deals in Tokyo, after closing at 107.25 yen on Thursday.
Among other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, New Zealand is notably higher. Shanghai is up with modest gains and Malaysia is up marginally, while Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia, South Korea and Taiwan are trading weak.
On Wall Street, stocks ended sharply higher on Thursday, as traders reacted positively to upbeat earnings news from some big-name companies, including Caterpillar (CAT) and 3M (MMM).
Data showing a smaller than expected increase in weekly U.S. jobless claims and a fairly strong reading of U.S. economic indicators contributed as well to the market's upmove.
The Dow jumped 216.6 points or 1.3 percent to 16,677.9, the Nasdaq soared 70 points or 1.6 percent to 4,452.8 and the S&P 500 surged up 23.7 points or 1.3 percent to 1,950.8.
Major European markets also closed higher on Thursday. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 index edged up by 0.3 percent, the German DAX index and the French CAC 40 index gained 1.2 percent and 1.3 percent, respectively.
U.S. crude oil ended sharply higher on Thursday boosted by reports that Saudi Arabia has cut its crude output to prop up prices. Some strong earnings and upbeat data raised hopes the global economy would recover sooner than initially anticipated.
Crude oil futures for December delivery ended up $1.57 or 1.9 percent at $82.09 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after declining to a low of $80.05 intraday.
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