Asian stock markets followed Wall Street higher Thursday, AP reported. The Shanghai Composite Index rose 1.6% to 3,073.98 and the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo added 0.2% to 22,159.722. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong, reopening after a holiday, gained 1.6% to 24,801.28. In South Korea, the Kospi advanced 0.8% to 2,124.39 while Australia's S&P-ASX 200 added 1.6% to 6,030.30. India's Sensex opened up 0.9% while New Zealand, Singapore and Jakarta also rose. In energy markets, benchmark U.S. crude gained 1 cent to $39.83 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 55 cents to settle at $39.82 on Wednesday. Brent crude, the international price standard, gained 4 cents to $42.07 per barrel in London. The contract rose 76 cents the previous session to $42.03 a barrel. The dollar declined to 107.44 from Wednesday's 107.49 yen. The euro rose to $1.1264 from $1.1244.