Asia markets closed mixed on Friday as investors digested a data deluge from China, although stocks still managed to post weekly gains. The moves in Asia followed another record close in U.S. stocks on Thursday.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 gained 111.96 points, or 0.7%, to 16,497.85, for a weekly gain of 9.2%
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index added 98.19 points, or 0.5%, to 21,659.25
In Japan, messaging app Line made its debut at the Tokyo Stock Exchange with an opening price of 4,900 yen per share, amid heavy buy orders, compared to its offering price of 3,300 yen. The stock closed up 31.7% at 4,345 yen.
This follows Line's debut on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday and share prices closed up 26.6%at $41.58 U.S. The social networking firm's NYSE float was the largest technology initial public (IPO) offering of 2016 and its share prices jumped more than 30% after they opened.
Shares of Line's parent company, South Korean internet giant Naver, closed down 2.5%, retracing earlier gains of more than 1.5%.
Nintendo closed up 9.8% at 27,780 yen per share, climbing 93.2% since the release of the hugely popular "Pokemon Go" mobile game on July 6, which investors anticipate will add to the game console maker's bottom line; Nintendo owns stakes in both the Pokemon Company and the developer of the game, Niantic.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar remained at the 96 handle, trading against a basket of currencies at 96.028. Among other currency majors, the Japanese yen remained relatively weaker, trading at 105.80 against the greenback, compared to near 100 levels it touched in the previous week.
Australian markets surged, too, boosted by advances in the heavily-weighted financials sub-index, as well as in the energy and material sub-indexes. For the week, the Australian benchmark index advanced 3.8%.
The Singapore Exchange (SGX) said its securities market was halted from trade on Thursday late-morning, after a technical glitch affected the SGX's trade confirmation processes. The market was put into an "adjust phase," where orders were allowed to be placed, removed or amended but no matching took place.
CHINA
Chinese mainland markets gave up gains in afternoon trade to close near flat, following a somewhat muted reaction to the second quarter gross domestic production (GDP) number released in the morning.
The Shanghai CSI 300 docked 0.48 points to 3,276.28
China's economy grew 6.7% on-year in the April-June quarter, a touch higher than analysts' prediction of a 6.6% growth rate. The second-quarter GDP grew 1.8% on-quarter
Retail sales for June in China were up 10.6% on-year, industrial output for June grew 6.2% on-year, while fixed asset investment for the January-June period was up 9% on-year
Ahead of the data dump in the world's second-largest economy, Chinese premier Li Keqiang said this week the country's economy was "basically stable", after suggesting on July 4 it was "not easy" to achieve the first quarter's 6.7% growth rate.
In other markets
The Taiex Index in Taiwan strengthened 83.49 points, or 0.9%, to 8,949.85
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index regained 18.43 points, or 0.6%, to 2,925.35
In Korea, the Kospi added 8.49 points, or 0.4%, to 2,017.26
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 retreated 7.44 points, or 0.1%, to 7,072.88
The ASX 200 improved 17.96 points, or 0.3%, to 5,429.57
