Most Asian indexes rose in early Thursday trade, after US equities advanced and the greenback rose following the unveiling of a long-awaited tax reform plan stateside.

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The Nikkei 225 climbed 0.49 percent in early trade as oil stocks and most financial names notched gains.

Across the Korean Strait, the Kospi shed 0.04 percent as automakers stumbled. The tech sector was mixed, but shares of heavyweight Samsung Electronics rose 0.77 percent. SK Hynix outperformed its peers to climb 2.43 percent early in the session.

Down Under, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.35 percent, with the information technology and utilities sub-indexes leading gains on the broader index. Bank stocks also gained: Westpac was up 0.88 percent and ANZ rose 0.47 percent.

A highly-anticipated plan to reform taxes in the US was released by Republicans on Wednesday. The framework proposed bringing the corporate tax rate to 20 percent from 35 percent and reducing the highest individual income tax rate to 35 percent from 39.6 percent.

Investors stateside cheered the tax reform plans, with stocks closing the last session higher. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.25 percent, or 56.39 points, to close at 22,340.71 while the small-cap Russell 2000 surged to a record high on Wednesday.

Despite optimism on Wall Street, questions remained over how the tax cuts would be funded.

"It's still going to be a long road to congressional approval and the changes that we've seen so far are less encouraging than his campaign promises," said Kathy Lien, managing director of FX strategy for BK Asset Management, in a note.

Still, the dollar gained on the developments out of Washington as well as a better-than-expected durable good orders print in August.

The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of rivals, stood at 93.431 at 8:13 a.m. HK/SIN after rising as high as 93.607 overnight. Against the Japanese currency, the dollar held onto most overnight gains to fetch 112.76 yen.

The yield on the ten-year US Treasury note rose to 2.31 percent on Wednesday, up from levels around 2.2 percent on Tuesday.

Potential market movers in the day include Chinese insurer ZhongAn Online, which will make its debut on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The insurer is backed by prominent names, including Alibaba Group Holding's Jack Ma, Tencent Holdings' Pony Ma and Ping An Insurance Group's Ma Mingzhe.

On the energy front, oil edged down. Brent crude extended losses, falling 0.33 percent to USD 57.71 a barrel after settling almost 1 percent down in the last session. US crude was mostly unchanged, trading 0.08 percent down at USD 52.10.

In economic news, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand on Thursday kept its cash rate steady at 1.75 percent. The central bank also said in a statement that a softer Kiwi dollar would help to fuel inflation. That was a slight change in language from the RBNZ's August statement that said a weaker Kiwi dollar was "needed," Reuters reported.

The Kiwi dollar edged up against the greenback to trade at USD 0.7215 at 8:14 a.m. HK/SIN after falling as low as $0.7198 overnight.

Elsewhere, the Bank of Thailand on Wednesday kept its policy rate unchanged, as was widely expected. Still, the move was contrary to calls from the government to cut rates due to the firmer Thai baht, according to local media.

In other currency moves, the Canadian dollar fell sharply against the dollar overnight after Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz gave a speech seen dovish by the markets. The loonie traded at 1.2476 to the dollar at 8:16 a.m. HK/SIN, weaker than the 1.23 handle seen for the past week.

First Published:Sept 28, 2017 7:29 AM IST