Stocks in Asia-Pacific were mostly higher on Friday, with the Chinese yuan holding on to recent gains against the American dollar.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 regained 40.93 points, or 0.2%, to 23,360.30.
Over in Japan, conglomerate Softbank Group saw its stock slip 1.1% on the day. The firm announced it will sell its entire stake in mobile services firm Brightstar, which was founded by Marcelo Claure, SoftBank’s current chief operating officer.
The Japanese yen traded at 104.54 per dollar, having strengthened from levels above 105.5 against the greenback seen earlier this week
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng recovered 114.56 points, or 0.5%, to 24,455.41.
Shares of technology firms in Asia-Pacific were mixed on Friday. In Japan, shares of Sharp rose 1.9%. Over in South Korea, industry heavyweight Samsung Electronics’ stock slipped 0.3% while Kakao advanced 0.5%.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong-listed shares of Chinese tech giant Tencent dipped 0.4% while Xiaomi jumped 3.5%.
The Australian dollar was at $0.7313, in a trading week that has seen it swinging between levels below $0.729 and above $0.732.
CHINA
The CSI 300 regrouped 104.38 points, or 2.3%, to 4,737.09.
The onshore Chinese yuan, which strengthened significantly against the greenback in recent days, traded at 6.7587 per U.S. dollar in the afternoon of Asian trading hours following levels above 6.81 seen earlier this week. It’s offshore counterpart changed hands at 6.7567 per dollar.
In other markets
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index lost 3.07 points, or 0.1%, to 2.497.71.
In Korea, the Kospi inched forward 6.23 points, or 0.3%, to 2,412.40.
In Taiwan, the Taiex index eked up 2.88 points to 12,875.62.
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 removed 143.61 points, or 1.2%, to 11,633.52.
In Australia, the ASX 200 dropped 18.71 points, or 0.3%, to 5,864.50.
