Asian stocks open in green

Asian stocks advanced, led by commodity and technology shares, after oil and metal prices gained and US housing starts unexpectedly rose.

Samsung Electronics which gets 19% of its revenue in America added almost 2.5% in Seoul as the company settled a patent-infringement lawsuit filed by the California Institute of Technology over digital cameras.

Hong Kong`s Hang Seng index climbed 199.53 points, or 1.06%, to trade at 19,005.19.

China`s Shanghai Composite gained 25 points, or 0.78% to trade at 3,214.74.

Taiwan`s Taiex index advanced 60.11 points, or 0.88%, to trade at 6,911.10.

South Korea`s Kospi index rose 25.36 points, or 1.76%, to trade at 1,465.46.

Singapore`s Straits Times went up 0.40 points, or 0.02%, to trade at 2,431.36. (7.52 a.m., IST)

Japanese benchmark index Nikkei is not trading today.