Asian markets settled mostly higher in thin holiday trade on Friday tracking gains on Wall Street as Dow and S&P 500 finished Wednesday at record highs. Investors were also waiting for President Donald Trump to nominate a Fed chair to replace Jerome Powell, whose term ends in May. Japanese shares gained after Japanese PM Sanae Takaichi's cabinet approved a record $785 billion budget for the next fiscal year, aiming to strike a balance between her proactive fiscal policy and debt blowout concerns by limiting new bond issuance. Chinese shares marginally rose, supported by a firmer yuan after the currency strengthened beyond the psychological milestone of 7 per dollar in offshore trading for the first time since September 2024 on bets China's central bank would allow gradual appreciation of the currency to boost market confidence.
| Asian Indices | Last Trade | Change in Points | Change in % |
| Shanghai Composite | 3,963.68 | 4.06 | 0.10 |
| Hang Seng | -- | -- | -- |
| Jakarta Composite | -- | -- | -- |
| KLSE Composite | 1,677.10 | -1.21 | -0.07 |
| Nikkei 225 | 50,750.39 | 342.60 | 0.68 |
| Straits Times | 4,636.15 | -0.19 | 0.00 |
| KOSPI Composite | 4,129.68 | 21.06 | 0.51 |
| Taiwan Weighted | 28,556.02 | 184.04 | 0.65 |
