Asian markets traded mostly higher in early deals on Friday, supported by strong rally in technology stocks with its global counter partners. Dovish comments from Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller and pullback in global Treasury yield notes kindled investor sentiments. Japan’s Nikkei snapped a four-day losing streak, though the index is on track to fall more than 2% for the week. Meanwhile, Hang Seng Index outperformed regional peers buoyed by local excitement over a reported, confidential $3 billion Hong Kong IPO filing by Chinese AI startup Moonshot AI. This news sparked heavy technical buying across major local tech and financial stocks.
Nikkei rose by 732.52 points or 1.13% to 64,947.00, Straits Times soared by 63.96 points or 1.11% to 5,811.67, Hang Seng jumped by 524.69 points 2.04% to 25,738.00, KOSPI Index surged by 119.61 points or 1.82% to 6,699.09, Taiwan weighted gained by 544.66 points or 1.19% to 46,402.32, and Shanghai Composite increased by 13.76 points or 0.35% to 3,955.85.
On the flip side, Jakarta Composite down by 7.10 points or 0.11% to 6,660.79, and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI index slipped by 6.98 points or 0.41% to 1,708.15.
