Stocks in Asia Pacific were mixed on Friday, following a second day of losses overnight on Wall Street as markets continued to mull on recent comments by U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. Meanwhile, investors awaited U.S. non-farm payrolls set to be released later on Friday stateside.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index gained 137.37, or 0.5%, to end a short week 30,081.55. Hong Kong-listed shares of HSBC jumped more than 2.5% after the bank reported first-quarter earnings that beat expectations.
Markets in Tokyo and Shanghai remained shuttered for holidays
The Japanese yen traded at 111.47 against the U.S. dollar after seeing an earlier high of 111.39
In South Korea, the Kospi declined, as shares of industry heavyweight Samsung Electronics slipped 1.3%.
The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.6991 U.S. after touching highs above $0.705 earlier in the week.
In other markets
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index handed over 1.04 points to 3,393.39
Korea’s Kospi index slumped 16.43 points, or 0.7%, to 2,196.32
In Taiwan, the Taiex Index gained 91.81 points to 0.8%, to 11,096.30
In Australia, the ASK 200 lost 2.61 points to 6,335.80
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 lost 27.67 points, or 0.3% to 10,058.08
