Asia-Pacific stocks were mixed on Friday, following days of turbulent trading this week as investors continue to monitor the situation surrounding the omicron COVID variant.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 recovered 276.2 points, or 1%, to 28.029.57.
Shares of conglomerate SoftBank Group, which holds a sizable stake in Didi, shed 0.7%.
The Japanese yen traded at 113.40 per U.S. dollar, still stronger than levels above 113.4 seen against the greenback earlier this week
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng subtracted 22.24 points, or 0.1%, to 23,766.69.
Chinese tech stocks in Hong Kong plunged after ride-hailing giant Didi announced Friday that it will begin taking steps to delist from the New York Stock Exchange — less than six months after it made its debut stateside. The company also said in the statement that it will pursue a listing in Hong Kong.
Shares of Tencent in Hong Kong fell 2.3% while Alibaba dropped 2.6% and Meituan slipped 2.7%.
The Australian dollar was at $0.7063, off levels above $0.715 seen earlier in the week.
In other markets
In China, the CSI 300 advanced 44.86 points, or 0.9%, to 4,901.02.
In Taiwan, the Taiex doffed 27.74 points, or 0.2%, to 17,697.14
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index eked up 9.82 points, or 0.3%, to 3,101.93
In Korea, the Kospi index jumped 23.06 points, or 0.8%, to 2,986.33
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 inched ahead 6.25 points, or 0.1%, to 12,676.50
In Australia, the ASX 200 regained 15.99 points, or 0.2%, at 7,241.17
