Upward trend on Asian stock exchanges – but South Korea gloomy

There were relatively cheerful tones on several of Asia's leading exchanges in Thursday's initial trading. In Japan, the important Nikkei 225 was up 0.5 percent, while the broader Topix index increased by 0.1 percent.

The composite indices in Shanghai and Shenzhen have also climbed by 0.2 and 0.7 percent, respectively.

In South Korea, it was darker after the week's political turmoil. The Kospi index had fallen by 0.5 percent by lunchtime. The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong had also fallen, by 1 percent.