Asia Follows the Bull...Right to the MONEY! Asian stocks follow US Markets:

Asian stocks were sharply higher Friday, with indexes in Japan and South Korea leading the advance as investors chased blue-chips such as Sony Corp., Toshiba Corp., and Posco after upbeat earnings reports from large U.S. companies raised expectations of a strong showing by their Asian counterparts.
Investors also apparently shelved concerns over North Korea to focus instead on Wall Street, where the Dow Jones Industrial Average set a fresh record closing high.

The Nikkei 225 Index ended the morning session up 1% to 16,537.9. The Tokyo Stock Price Index, or Topix, was up 0.9% to 1,628.9.
South Korea's Kospi was up 1.2% to 1,348.0. Shares in Australia were also on the move, as the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.9%, touching a fresh five-month high.
Shares listed in Singapore and Taiwan gained more than 1.2%. Indexes in Malaysia and New Zealand were also higher.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was up 1% to 18,043.9. The China Enterprises Index, a gauge of 37 leading mainland-incorporated shares listed in Hong Kong, was up 1.2% to 7,378.1.
"Around the region we have seen funds continue flowing into the equity market," said Ben Kwong, an analyst at KGI Securities in Hong Kong. "We are basically in a similar kind of situation to the U.S. where funds still favor the equity market ahead of the midterm elections."
He added China banking shares would continue to be in focus as investors sought exposure to the sector ahead of the upcoming initial public offering for the Industrial & Commercial Bank of China. He added large capitalization stocks are also expected to mark gains as cash that had been sidelined over regional security concerns moves into the equity market
"I expect the uptrend will continue for a few weeks, followed by a moderate downtrend in November," Kwong said.

Crude-oil futures rose as much as 36 cents to $58.22 a barrel in electronic trading. The November contract gained 27 cents at $57.86 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after the U.S. Energy Department said domestic distillate supplies, which include winter heating oil, fell for the first time in nine weeks.

Shares of electronic and entertainment conglomerate Sony were up 3.3% while diversified industrial conglomerate Toshiba gained 3%.