Asian Stocks Rise as Wall Street Rally and Easing Oil Prices Boost Confidence

Tokyo stocks rose in early trading on Friday as investors took cues from Wall Street's rally and easing oil prices.

The Bank of Japan raised its benchmark interest rate to a 31-year high of 1.25% after the Federal Reserve hiked its key rate earlier this week, pressures mounting from the U.S. for Japan to adjust rates due to concerns about the weakening yen.

In currency trading, the U.S. dollar rose to 157.23 Japanese yen from 155.95 yen and the euro cost $1.1484, up from $1.1480.

Asian shares followed suit with Japan's Nikkei 225 gaining 1.4% to 65,000.72 in afternoon trading while South Korea's Kospi jumped 2.7% to 6,893.98.