Shares in Asia-Pacific were mostly higher on Friday after stocks on Wall Street cruised to new record highs overnight.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 hiked 648.9 points, or 2.4%, to 28,139.03.
Japan’s household spending rose 1.1% year-on-year in November, according to government data released Friday. That was higher than economists’ median estimate of a 1.5% decrease.
In coronavirus developments, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga declared a state of emergency in Tokyo and three other areas on Thursday in a bid to combat a rise in coronavirus infections.
The Japanese yen traded at 103.93 per U.S. dollar after weakening from levels below 103.2 against the greenback yesterday.
The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong leaped 329.7 points, or 1.2%, to 27,878.22.
Shares of three Chinese telecommunications firms in Hong Kong fell once again after index giant MSCI announced it will delete the firms’ Hong Kong-listed securities from some of its indexes.
By the Friday market close in Hong Kong, shares of China Mobile fell 4.2% while China Unicom slipped 0.9%. China Telecom declined 3.5%.
The top gainer appeared to be South Korea, where the market gained sharply. As the first trading week of 2021 comes to an end, the index has already jumped about 9.7% from its final close in 2020.
Shares of South Korean automaker Hyundai Motor soared 19.42% following a local media report of a deal between the firm and Cupertino-based tech giant Apple on developing electric vehicles and batteries.
Hyundai Motor told the media it was still in talks with Apple.
However, the automaker later released a subsequent statement that avoided mentioning Apple, instead citing “diverse companies” that have talked with Hyundai about developing autonomous electric vehicles.
Other stocks in South Korea’s auto sector also gained, with Hyundai Mobis surging 18.1% while Kia Motors jumped 8.4%.
The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7762, having seen levels above $0.78 earlier this week.
In other markets
In Shanghai, the CSI 300 docked 18.23 points, or 0.3%, to 5,495.43.
In Korea, the Kospi index jumped 120.5 points, or 4%, to 3,152.18
In Singapore, the Straits Times gained 86.22 points, or 3%, to 2,993.19.
In Taiwan, the Taiex Index climbed 249.95 points, or 1.6%, to 15,463.95.
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 gathered 72.52 points, or 0.5%, to 13,558.19.
In Australia, the ASX 200 spiked 45.92 points, or 0.7% to 6,757.87.
