Investing.com – Asian stocks climbed in morning trade on Thursday following a positive session on Wall Street.
Overnight, the S&P 500 gained 2%, while the Dow added 0.75% and the Nasdaq closed 1% higher.
Energy shares led the gain after U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to pull out from the Iran nuclear deal. Crude oil prices reached 3-1/2 year highs following the news as investors bet the development would intensify tension in the Middle East and curtail oil supply, while an unexpected drop in stockpiles were also cited as tailwind for the West Texas oil.
In Asia, an unexpected win by Mahathir Mohamad in Malaysia’s election took center stage, as it marked the end of the six-decade rule of Prime Minister Najib Razak’s party in a landmark shift for the Southeast Asian nation.
China’s Shanghai Composite and the Shenzhen Component opened 0.3% and 0.1% higher respectively by 9:32PM ET (01:32 GMT). Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was also up 0.9%.
Telecommunications gear maker ZTE Corp (HK:0763) made headlines after it said it has halted major operating activities after U.S. authorities imposed a ban on the company’s ability to buy components from U.S. suppliers.
Trading in the company’s shares has been suspended since the imposition of the ban last month.
China’s April consumer price index (CPI) cooled to 1.8% from a year earlier, official data showed on Thursday, slightly lower than economists’ forecasts of 1.9% from a year earlier and the 2.1% gain seen in March.
Meanwhile, the producer price index (PPI) jumped 3.4% from a year earlier, accelerating from the previous month’s rise of 3.1% but slightly lower than the expected 3.5%.
Elsewhere, Japan’s Nikkei 225 edged up 0.2%, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 and South Korea’s KOSPI both gained 0.4%.