Asian markets: China’s Shanghai Composite trades higher following a rebound in oil prices
Barring India, all Asian stock markets were in the green Reuters

Most Asian stock market indices including China's Shanghai Composite Index were trading higher on 16 February. This followed a rebound in both WTI crude and Brent crude prices.

Oil prices which have been on the decline for the past 18 months due to oversupply, got a boost amid news of a meeting of oil producing nations scheduled on 16 February in Doha. The meeting suggests that oil producers could finally cut production to control prices.

Hirokazu Kabeya, chief global strategist at Daiwa Securities, however, attributed the recovery in Asia's stock markets to "partly a reaction after such big falls last week" and to solid US data which he said "is also improving investor sentiment given that they are counting on US growth to lead the global economy".

Indices in Asia traded as follows on 16 February at 5.40am GMT:

CountryIndexPriceUp/Down%Change
ChinaShanghai Composite Index2,822.36UP2.77%
Hong KongHang Seng Index19,207.69UP1.53%
JapanNikkei 22516,167.61UP0.91%
South KoreaKOSPI1,889.44UP1.46%
IndiaCNX Nifty7,147.30DOWN0.22%
AustraliaS&P/ASX 2004,910.00UP1.37%

While the Dow Jones Industrial Average was closed for 'President's Day' on 15 February, the FTSE 100 closed higher by 2.04% at 5,824.28 overnight. Among commodities, WTI crude oil was trading 4.62% higher at $30.80 (£21.36, €27.61) a barrel, while Brent was up 3.98% at $34.72 a barrel at 5.50am GMT on 16 February.

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