It was broadly upwards for leading stock exchange indices in Asia, driven among other things by decreased concern over inflation in the US, which paves the way for an upcoming American interest rate cut.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index was up over 1 percent and the broader Topix up 1.2 percent after a few hours of trading on Thursday. Japan's GDP increased more than expected during the second quarter and for the first time in five quarters, private consumption increased.
In China, the composite indices in Shanghai and Shenzhen stood at plus 1.2 and 1.3 percent, respectively, while the increase in Hong Kong, for the Hang Seng index, was up 0.7 percent.
In South Korea, the Kospi index was up 0.9 percent.
