Asian shares were higher Friday with the Hong Kong and China markets leading the way as better than expected earnings on Wall Street boosted regional sentiment.
South Korea's Hynix Semiconductor though failed to get a lift from its third quarter report. Hong Kong's Hang Seng was 1.5% higher while China's Shanghai Composite was up 1.9% and Taiwan's main index up 0.6%. Japan's Nikkei 225 up 0.6%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were up 21 points in screen trade.
Crude oil for December delivery rose as much as 59 cents, or 0.7%, to $81.78 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange and was at $81.65 a barrel, up 46 cents recently. Yesterday, the contract fell 18 cents to settle at $81.19.
MCX crude oil futures are up more than Rs 25 at Rs 3785 per barrel. The traders may enter long on dips around Rs 3775-70 with target of Rs 3795-90 and stop loss of Rs 3760.
Barrage of data is due for release from Europe and US today. Euro Zone's services and manufacturing PMI, Germany's IFO business climate index, Europe's industrial new orders, UK's preliminary GDP data and BBA mortgage approvals are due, while from US there is existing home sales and speech from Bernanke and Kohn.