Asian equities mostly advance after Wall Street gains yesterday

Nikkei 02-09

Japanese stocks end the day with modest gains, as US equities pushed higher once again in trading yesterday - setting up a more positive mood today. Chinese stocks are looking more flat but the Hang Seng is up slightly by 0.2% currently.

Elsewhere, US futures are pointing to more optimism with S&P 500 futures up by 0.4% while Nasdaq futures are up by 0.6% as we look towards European trading.

In the major currencies space, there is some mild weakness in the franc as USD/CHF rebounds further after testing five-year lows near 0.9000 yesterday.

Besides that, the kiwi is also keeping a slight advance after RBNZ governor Orr said that he wasn't concerned about the currency with NZD/USD looking to firmly break away from its 31 December high @ 0.6556.