In Asia today, the Hang Seng ended the morning up 162.08 points at the session's high of 15,396.50, while the Nikkei was recently up 141.63 points at 14,360.23.
New York's main oil contract, light sweet crude for July delivery, was down 28 cents at $68.28 a barrel from its close of $68.56 in the US overnight, where it declined $1.80.