Asian markets closed mixed on Friday, as key health-care vote in the U.S. was delayed and President Donald Trump called on legislators for an up-or-down decision on Friday.
The Nikkei 225 in Japan concluded a dipsy-doodle week by strengthening 177.22 points, or 0.9%, to 19,262.53, as the yen remained at the 111 level against the U.S. dollar.
The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong gained 30.57 points, or 0.1%, to 24,358.27, as traders looked to the Hong Kong chief executive election on Sunday. This will be the first election since the pro-democracy "Umbrella Revolution" protests in 2014.
Korean markets hesitated a mite, as Samsung Electronics held its first Annual General Meeting of shareholders since Jay Y. Lee's arrest over a corruption scandal. Samsung Electronics shares fell 0.7% to 2,075,000 won ($1,849.51 U.S.) each stock.
The South Korean electronics giant said on Friday that it will be difficult to adopt a holding company structure at this time, due to "negative effects that would arise from transitioning to a holding company," its chief executive Kwon Oh-hyun said at the meeting in Seoul.
Since last November, Samsung began reviewing whether to adopt a holding company structure, a proposal by U.S. activist hedge fund Elliot Management and other investors, in a bid to improve its corporate governance.
Australian indexes gained, seeing broad gains across all sub-indexes, except for industrials and gold.
A strike at BHP Billiton's Escondida copper mine in Chile, the world's largest copper mine, is expected to end after workers decided to invoke a rarely used legal provision to allow them to extend their old contract. Shares of BHP Billiton were up 0.3% at A$24.26 per stock.
In other markets
In Shanghai, the CSI 300 gathered 27.62 points, or 0.8%, to 3,489.60
The Kospi Index in Korea slumped 3.77 points, or 0.2%, to 2,168.95
In Taiwan, the Taiex dipped 27.76 points, or 0.3%, to 9,902.98
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index picked up 15.97 points, or 0.5%, to 3,142.90
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 gained 11.28 points, or 0.2%, to 7,073.83
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 jumped 45.59 points, or 0.8%, to 5,753.55
