SINGAPORE — Shares in Asia-Pacific rose in Friday trade, with technology stocks in the region jumping following big gains on Wall Street that saw the Nasdaq Composite surging 3%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was 3.19% higher as of its final hour of trading, among the biggest gainers regionally.
Mainland Chinese stocks also saw sizable gains, with the Shanghai Composite closing 2.41% higher at 3,047.06 while the Shenzhen Component soared 3.693% to around 11,021.44.
The surge in the China markets came after Chinese state media on Friday reported details of a Politburo meeting where officials promised more policy support to meet the country’s economic growth target for the year.
it’s overall quite a constructive … sea of positive green performance today on the back of reasonably pretty strong set of corporate earnings season coming out from the U.S. market.
Audrey Goh
senior investment strategist, Standard Chartered
Investors also watched moves in Asia-Pacific technology stocks after their counterparts on Wall Street rallied overnight. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite jumped 3.06% to 12,871.53.
Chinese technology stocks jumped, with Tencent soaring 9.54% while Alibaba climbed 13.43%. The Hang Seng Tech index surged 8.55%.
Shares of South Korean industry heavyweight Samsung Electronics gained 4.01% while chipmaker SK Hynix climbed 2.74%. Krafton jumped 4.78%.
South Korea’s broader Kospi rose 1.03% to close at 2,695.05 while the S&P/ASX 200 in Australia advanced 1.06% to finish the trading day at 7,435.
Markets in Japan are closed on Friday for a holiday. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan climbed 2.25%.
“I think it’s overall quite a constructive … sea of positive green performance today on the back of reasonably pretty strong set of corporate earnings season coming out from the U.S. market,” Audrey Goh, senior investment strategist at Standard Chartered, told CNBC’s “Street Signs Asia” on Friday.
Looking ahead, Goh pointed to an upcoming meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee stateside where investors will watch for clues on the interest rate outlook.
“Overall, going into the weekend we’re probably a tad more cautious in terms of how the Fed may signal some of its rate hike trajectory going forward,” she said.
Currencies and oil
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 103.209 — largely holding on to gains after crossing the 102 level earlier in the week.
The Japanese yen traded at 130.30 per dollar, continuing to remain weak after crossing the 130 level against the greenback yesterday. The Australian dollar was at $0.7143, still off levels above $0.72 seen earlier this week.
Oil prices were higher in the afternoon of Asia trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures rising 0.66% to $108.30 per barrel. U.S. crude futures climbed 0.28% to $105.66 per barrel.