Investors are watching oil prices after the recent surge

SINGAPORE — Shares in Asia-Pacific rose Thursday morning as investors will continue to watch oil prices after prices soared in recent days.
The Nikkei 225 in Japan jumped 1.12% in early trading while the Topix index climbed 1.27%. South Korea’s Kospi also gained 1.01%.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.95%.
MSCI’s broadest Asia Pacific ex-Japan equity index traded up 0.49%.
Looking ahead, a private survey of Chinese services activity in February is set to be released on Thursday, with the Caixin/Markit Services PMI expected at 9:45 a.m. HK/SIN.
oil watch
Overnight on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 596.40 points to 33,891.35. The S&P 500 gained 1.86% to 4,386.54 while the Nasdaq Composite rose 1.62% to 13,752.02.
Currencies
The Japanese yen was trading at 115.49 to the dollar, after weakening from less than 115.2 against the greenback yesterday. The Aussie dollar changed hands at $0.7292, largely holding onto gains from its rise below $0.72 earlier in the week.