Asian stock markets are trading higher on Friday as investors took profits on the last trading day of 2016, while the euro briefly spiked in thin trade.

China's benchmark index, Shanghai Composite rose 2.12 points or 0.07 percent to trade at 3,098.21. Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 145.66 points or 0.67 percent to trade at 21,936.57. Singapore's Straits Times went up 3.54 points or 0.12 percent to trade at 2,892.69.

South Korea's KOSPI rose 1.97 points or 0.1 percent to trade at 2,026.46. Taiwan's TAIEX went up 67.12 points or 0.73 percent to trade at 9,220.21.

On the other hand, Japan's benchmark index, Nikkei 225 lost 109.66 points or 0.57 percent to trade at 19,035.48.