Asian markets trade mostly higher in early deals on Friday

19 Dec 2025 Evaluate

Asian markets traded mostly higher in early deals on Friday, kindled by the risk appetite in the market as further Fed interest rate cut bets got intensified after the release of cooler-than-expected inflation data. Rally in technological sector stocks buoyed the local indices. Japan’s Nikkei soared after the Bank of Japan delivered a widely expected interest rate hike. The BoJ lifted the benchmark rates by quarter bps to 0.75%, after inflation eased to 2.9% in November from October’s 3%. Moreover, weaker local currency yen supported gains in export-oriented business of Japan.

Nikkei 225 surge by 595.50 points or 1.22% to 49,597.00, Straits Times up by 5.86 points or 0.13% to 4,576.47, Hang Seng rose by 186.87 points 0.73% to 25,685.00, KOSPI Index higher by 41.24 points or 1.03% to 4,035.75, Taiwan Weighted climbed by 305.59 points or 1.11% to 27,774.12, Shanghai Composite jumped by 22.94 points or 0.59% to 3,899.31, and FTSE Bursa Malaysia added by 9.19 points or 0.56% to 1,656.09.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite down by 40.54 points 0.47% to 8,577.66.

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