Upbeat in Japan – Gloomy in China

The Tokyo Stock Exchange followed Wall Street and rose at the beginning of the week's last trading day.

By lunchtime, the important Nikkei 225 index had increased by 0.8 percent, while the broader Topix added 0.7 percent.

In Hong Kong, however, there were discordant notes when the Hang Seng index fell by 1.3.

Nor was there any festive atmosphere at the composite indexes in Shanghai and Shenzhen, and the two decreased by 1.0 and 0.8 percent, respectively.