The Japanese Nikkei 225 index is up 0.2 percent at lunchtime, somewhat in the shadow of the broader Topix index which has risen by 0.4 percent.
Something behind is Shanghai's and Shenzhen's composite index which both go up with 0.1 percent.
South Korean Kospi, on the other hand, falls by 0.1 percent while Hang Seng in Hong Kong keeps itself around zero.
