Shares in Asia-Pacific rose on Thursday as fears over the omicron COVID variant eased.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 hiked 236.16 points, or 0.8%, to 28,798.37.
The Japanese yen traded at 114.25 per U.S. dollar after weakening earlier this week from levels below 113.6 against the greenback.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng leaped 91.31 points, or 0.4%, to 23,193.64.
Hong Kong-listed shares of Chinese e-commerce titan JD.com plunged 7% while Tencent surged 4.2%.
Those moves came after Tencent announced it will distribute the majority of its shares in JD.com to its shareholders — valued at 127.7 billion
Hong Kong dollars (about $16.37 billion), based on JD’s Wednesday close in Hong Kong.
The Australian dollar was at $0.7231, continuing its upward trek after yesterday’s surge from around $0.712.
CHINA
In China, the CSI 300 picked up 34.29 points, or 0.7%, to 4,948.74
Investors continued monitoring COVID developments in the country after the major Chinese city of Xi’an entered a lockdown on Thursday as authorities seek to control a flare-up of COVID cases.
In other markets
In Taiwan, the Taiex jumped 119.83 points, or 0.7%, to 17,946.66
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index inched up 9.3 points, or 0.3%, to 3,096.81
In Korea, the Kospi index advanced 13.69 points, or 0.5%, to 2,998.17
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 subtracted 2.51 points to 12,862.71
In Australia, the ASX 200 moved up 22.8 points, or 0.3%, at 7,387.57.
