Asian markets rise, Korea outperforms and Japan up ahead of BoJ

The new BoJ Governor will be nominated soon and investors saw it as a chance to sell more Yen and embrace equities. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average rose +0.84%. The top performer of the session was, however, South Korea's Kospi as it gained +1.95%. Mainland China's Shanghai Composite edged higher by +0.60% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose +0.42%. Indexes in Malaysia, India and Indonesia moved were somewhat pressured.

Futures for the German DAX 30 and the French CAC 40 are signaling a flat opening after already seeing the release of German January CPI, in line with consensus, and PPI, with annualized rise from 1.5% to 1.7%, instead of easing to 1.2% as expected. French CPI and business climate come ahead.