Asian markets edge up on a strong lead from Wall Street

Asian markets edged slightly higher on Friday morning, taking the lead from good overnight results on Wall Street. The Nasdaq closed at a record high while the Dow Jones and the S&P 500 also ended in positive territory. Japan's Nikkei 225, Asia's largest stock market, followed suit, rising by 0.2 per cent to 20,650.20 in early trade. But shares in the electronics giant Sharp fell 3 per cent on local media reports that it would report a loss for the April to June quarter. In South Korea, investors were looking ahead to a shareholder vote underway at construction firm Samsung C&T on whether it can go ahead with merger plans with holding company Cheil Industries. The merger had come under fire from US hedge fund Elliott, the third-largest shareholder in Samsung C&T. Shares of Cheil were up by 0.3 per cent  while Samsung C&T traded flat. The country's benchmark Kospi index was largely unchanged at 2,087.78 points. In mainland China, stocks were in positive territory in early trading, the Shanghai Composite was up 0.1 per cent to 3,825.12 points. The Hong Kong Hang Seng was up 0.3 per cent at 25,241.74. Traders are closely watching the Chinese indexes to gauge whether regulators' measures to stop the plunge of the past weeks have taken hold. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 index bucked the region's trend, falling 0.3 per cent to 5,655.70 points. But Evan Lucas, market strategist with IG, said in a note that he was optimistic about the general outlook for Australian stocks. "China worries have died down and Greece is now a non-issue (until September, anyway). The next month or two may be the first positive months since February,"according to BBC.