Wall Street gains and oil price recovery boost Asian stocks

Barring the Shanghai Composite Index, Asian stock markets were trading higher as oil prices staged a modest recovery. The upward trend could also be attributed to a positive close on Wall Street.

The second consecutive day of Wall Street gains comes against the backdrop of positive data that indicates economic growth for the July-September period was in line with expectations. US personal consumption data, which drives about two thirds of the economy, was also positive.

James Lindsay, an Auckland-based fund manager at Nikko Asset Management said: "Consumer spending looks like it's helping the US economy. Volumes tend to get pretty light at this time of year. Markets have had a reasonable run and value is a lot harder to come by."

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan edged up by 0.6%, marking the highest level in about two weeks. Australia's benchmark S&P/ASX 200 closed 0.49% higher at 5,141.80; China's Shanghai Composite index was down 0.30% at 3,640.72; Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was up 0.94% at 22,034.49; South Korea's KOSPI was 0.33% higher at 1,999.22; India's CNX Nifty rose 0.87% at 7,853.50.

Japan's stock market was closed for the day to celebrate the Emperor's birthday.

Though the recent increase in interest rates by the US Federal Reserve has boosted confidence, many investors are still cautious about the central bank's plans for its next increase. However, fund manager Lindsay said: "The key things are still what happens with China, the flow-on effects into commodities and what the Fed does and how that affects sentiment and currencies."

Among commodities, Brent crude oil which recently touched an 11-year low was up 1.05% at $36.49 a barrel, while WTI crude oil was trading 0.91% higher at $36.47 a barrel.