Asian Stock Markets Mostly Up as Tokyo and Shanghai Gain

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 and the Topix index had increased by 0.9 percent each around lunchtime.

Also in Shanghai and Shenzhen, it was cheerful when their composite index increased by 0.2 and 0 percent, respectively.

In Hong Kong, it was more gloomy, the Hang Seng index lost 1.3 percent.

South Korea's Kospi index, on the other hand, had a hard time making up its mind and fluctuated around zero.