Asia opens mostly higher ahead of Biden's stimulus

Asian stock indices opened the fourth session of the week mostly higher, with Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, and South Korea higher, while Chinese stocks lost ground for the day. 

From New Zealand, building permits rose 1.2% in November, slowing down from 8.9% in October.

From Japan, producer prices rose 0.5% in December, compared to no change in November, while falling 2.0% y/y. 

Japan's machine orders rose 1.5%, slowing down from 17.1% in October, while the Japanese government extended the emergency state to include more areas to control the spread of the coronavirus. 

From China, the trade balance surplus rose to 517 billion yuan, or $78.2 billion, from 507 billion yuan in November. 

The US House of Representatives officially impeached Donald Trump after his supporters stormed Capitol Hill a few days ago to disrupt the process of voting Biden in as the new president. 

Donald Trump has now become the only US president in history to have been impeached twice, a few days ahead of Biden's official inauguration on January 20.  

Japan's TOPEX rose 0.86% to 1,880, while Nikkei 225 climbed 1.38% to 28,849.

China's CSI 300 gave up 0.86%, while Shanghai slipped 0.14% to 3,593.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.46%, while South Korea's KOSPI edged up 0.17% to 3,153. 

New Zealand's NZX 50 rose 0.19%, while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 climbed 0.50% to 6,720.