SINGAPORE — Shares in Asia-Pacific rose in Friday trade, with technology stocks in the region jumping following big gains for their counterparts on Wall Street that saw the Nasdaq Composite surging 3%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was 3.13% higher in afternoon trade, leading gains among the region’s major markets.
Mainland Chinese stocks also saw sizable gains, with the Shanghai Composite up nearly 2% while the Shenzhen Component gained 3.096%.
Investors 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 10.18% while Alibaba climbed 13.88%. The Hang Seng Tech index surged 8.05%.
Shares of South Korean industry heavyweight Samsung Electronics gained 4.17% while chipmaker SK Hynix climbed more than 2%. Krafton jumped 4.99%.
South Korea’s broader Kospi rose 1.02% while the S&P/ASX 200 in Australia advanced 0.91%.
Markets in Japan are closed on Friday for a holiday. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan climbed 2.1%.
“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.
Apple supplier stocks in the region were also monitored by investors after the tech giant warned of a potential $8 billion hit from supply constraints.
Shares of South Korea’s LG Display gained 1.52% in Friday trade, while AAC Technologies saw its stock in Hong Kong surge 6.66%. Over in Taiwan, shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company advanced 1.32%.
Other major indexes stateside also saw gains overnight, with the S&P 500 rising 2.47% to 4,287.50. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 614.46 points, or 1.85%, to 33,916.39.
The gains on Wall Street came despite data showing U.S. gross domestic product declining at a 1.4% pace in the first quarter, far off analyst expectations of a 1% gain.
Currencies
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 103.309 — largely holding on to gains after crossing the 102 level earlier in the week.
The Japanese yen traded at 130.51 per dollar, continuing to remain weak after crossing the 130 level against the greenback yesterday. The Australian dollar was at $0.7148, 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 0.9% to $108.56 per barrel. U.S. crude futures climbed 0.5% to $105.89 per barrel.
