Asians stocks mostly higher as Japan leads on stimulus hopes

TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares were mostly higher Thursday as Japan's benchmark rose on hopes of Japanese government stimulus spending and better-than-expected earnings lifted Wall Street.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 added 1.4 percent to 16,921.25 in morning trading.

Japanese media reported the government may be considering a 20 trillion yen ($186 billion) fiscal stimulus package.

Technology stocks finished higher on Wall Street, following an encouraging report from Microsoft that said momentum in its cloud-computing business helped it to return to a profit in its fiscal fourth quarter.

THE QUOTE: "Mario Draghi's speech is hotly anticipated by investors as they look for clues and guidance on what measures the central bank will take post Brexit to navigate through uncertainty," said Alex Wijaya, senior sales trader at CMC Markets.