Stocks in Asia-Pacific mostly rose on Friday, following an overnight bounce for stocks stateside.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 regained 636.46 points, or 2.3%, to 28,084.47.
The Japanese yen traded at 109.33 per U.S. dollar, after weakening earlier in the week from below 109 against the greenback.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index regrouped 308.9 points, or 1.1%, to 28,027.57.
Hong Kong-listed shares of Chinese tech giant Alibaba plunged 4% on Friday after the firm posted its first operating loss as a public company in its fiscal fourth quarter.
The losses came after the Southeast Asian nation said Friday it’s “very likely” that the air travel bubble with Hong Kong will not start on May 26 as planned. The government also announced there will be more COVID-19 restrictions starting this weekend, following a recent rise in local infections.
The Singapore dollar weakened about 0.1% against the greenback, trading at 1.3346 per dollar. Shares of Singapore Airlines plunged 5.7%, while Cathay Pacific’s stock in Hong Kong edged 0.3% higher.
The Australian dollar was at $0.7742, having declined from levels above $0.78 earlier this week.
In other markets
In Shanghai, the CSI 300 recovered 117.62 points, or 2.4%, to 5,110.59.
In Singapore, the Straits Times index returned to trading with a loss of 68.24 points, or 2.2%, to 3,055.02.
In Taiwan, the Taiex index added 156.09 points, or 1 %, to 15,827.09
In Korea, the Kospi index gained 31.21 points, or 1%, to 3,153.32
In New Zealand the NZX 50 fell 60.26 points, or 0.5%, to 12,367.86
In Australia, the ASX 200 picked up 31.52 points, or 0.5%, to 7,014.24
