Bright on Asian Stock Exchanges

It was all bright and cheerful on Asia's leading stock exchanges at lunchtime on Thursday, with cautious increases everywhere.

Tokyo's important Nikkei 225 had jumped up 1.4 percent, while the broader Topix index was up 1.1 percent.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index had increased 1.4 percent and South Korea's Kospi was up 0.4. Shanghai's and Shenzhen's composite index had risen 0.6 and 0.7 percent, respectively.