Mostly happy on the stock markets in Asia

The belief that the likelihood of the US Federal Reserve (Fed) cutting interest rates next week has increased led Wall Street to close in the green. In Asia, some of the major indices followed the trend.

Both the Japanese Nikkei 225 and Topix had risen by 1.5 percent by lunchtime.

Chinese indices also showed gains, although not as large. Shenzhen rose 0.4 percent and the Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.1 percent.

The Hong Kong-based Hang Seng rose 0.2 percent.

In South Korea, the Kospi broke the trend and fell 1.0 percent.