Asian markets trade higher, eye on Japan

Most of the Asian markets were trading in the green on back of progress in resolving the nuclear crisis in Japan. However, investors remained on the sidelines over concerns of military barrage in Libya.

China's Shanghai Composite was the only index trading in red; down 0.3% after the bank increased the reserve requirement of Bank to 20% clocking the third rate hike this year.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up 1.2% ignoring monetary tightening in China. Mainland Chinese lenders and property developers were leading the gains. Japan's Nikkei 225 was up 2.7%, Singapore's Strait Times advanced 0.9%, Seoul Composite and Taiwan Weighted were up 1% and 1.2% each.

The Nifty futures on the Singapore Exchange were up 39 points.