Positive mood on Asian stock exchanges

There were positive tones on Asia's leading stock exchanges after a couple of hours of trading on Friday.

In Japan, both the important Nikkei 225 and the broader Topix index were up 0.6 percent at lunchtime.

The composite indexes in Shanghai and Shenzhen were up 0.9 and 2.5 percent, respectively, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong had risen 1.3 percent.