Asian shares ended mostly higher on Friday as markets remained optimistic about the Chinese economic outlook despite a mild disappointment over official data on the country’s manufacturing sector. Chinese stocks rebounded from early weakness and went home with green mark on the back of rally in banking shares, while Hong Kong's closed lower, weighed by local Chinese companies. Japan’s Nikkei finished higher as the yen fell to multi-year lows against the euro and the U.S. dollar. Meanwhile, investors' focus now turns to the U.S. nonfarm payrolls report, which will likely show a rise of 160,000 jobs.
Asian Indices | Last Trade | Change in Points | Change in % |
Shanghai Composite | 2,419.02 | 33.60 | 1.41 |
Hang Seng | 23,721.84 | -7.69 | -0.03 |
Jakarta Composite | 4,481.63 | 27.93 | 0.63 |
KLSE Composite | - | - | - |
Nikkei 225 | 11,191.34 | 52.68 | 0.47 |
Straits Times | 3,291.14 | 8.48 | 0.26 |
KOSPI Composite | 1,957.79 | -4.15 | -0.21 |
Taiwan Weighted | 7,855.97 | 5.95 | 0.08 |
