A board above the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange shows the Dow Jones industrial average at the opening bell, Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2017. The DJIA is trading over 20,000 points for the first time, the latest milestone in a record-setting drive for the stock market. The market has been marching steadily higher since bottoming out in March 2009 in the aftermath of the financial crisis. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- Asian shares advanced Thursday as investors cheered the Dow Jones industrial average's first ever close above the 20,000 milestone.

KEEPING SCORE: Japan's Nikkei 225 surged 1.6 percent to 19,368.40 and South Korea's Kospi gained 0.9 percent to 2,086.37. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index advanced 1.4 percent to 23,365.01. The Shanghai Composite index rose 0.1 percent to 3,153.77 and benchmarks in Southeast Asia were also higher. Australian and Indian markets are closed for holidays.

ANALYST'S TAKE: "Asian markets are slated for higher prices in the day with the jubilance from Wall Street and ahead of the Chinese New Year holidays," said Jingyi Pan, a market strategist at IG in Singapore. "Into the end of the week, Asian markets excluding Japan have been showing substantial resilience."

WALL STREET: The Dow's breaking through the 20,000 mark on Wednesday was the latest milestone in a record-setting drive for the stock market. The Standard & Poor's 500 index and Nasdaq composite also touched record highs of their own for a second day in a row. The Dow, which tracks 30 major industrial companies, gained 155.80 points, or 0.8 percent, to 20,068.51. The S&P 500 index rose 18.30 points, or 0.8 percent, to 2,298.37. The Nasdaq added 55.38 points, or 1 percent, to 5,656.34.

OIL: Benchmark U.S. crude oil added 45 cents to $53.20 per barrel in New York. The contract fell 43 cents to close at $52.75 a barrel on Wednesday. Brent crude, used to price international oils, gained 49 cents at $55.91 a barrel in London.

CURRENCIES: The dollar strengthened to 113.38 yen from 113.19 while the euro was steady at $1.0757.