Most Asian markets trade higher after overnight Wall Street gains and positive China trade numbers

While most Asian stock market indices were trading higher on Thursday (8 December), the Shanghai Composite was down 0.20% at 3,215.70 as of 5.31am GMT. This followed overnight gains in the Wall Street and China reporting positive trade numbers.

The American stock market indices had a good run on Wednesday. While the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at its 12th all-time high since the US election at 19,549.62, up 1.55%, the S&P 500 closed 1.32% higher at 2,241.35, also marking a record close. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite also closed in the green and finished up 1.14% at 5,393.76.

The bullish trend in the Asian markets was also said to be in part amid China reporting positive export and import numbers that were better than expected. The world's second biggest economy said its dollar-denominated imports grew 6.7% on-year in November. This not only marked the fastest pace of annualised growth since September 2013, but was also better than a Reuters poll, which had forecast imports to drop 6.2%.

China's exports in dollar terms for November also grew. While this was just marginal at 0.1%, it was much better than the Reuters forecast of -5%.

Indices in the region were trading as follows at 5.50am GMT:

On 7 December, the FTSE 100 closed 1.81% higher at 6,902.23.

Among commodities, oil prices gained some ground after slipping on Wednesday amid doubts over production cuts promised by both Opec and Russia, according to CNBC. As of 5.58am GMT, WTI crude oil was trading higher by 0.16% at $49.85 (£39.41) a barrel, while Brent crude was trading 0.02% higher at $53.01 a barrel.