Asia-Pacific markets higher
The broader Asia-Pacific markets rose on Friday.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index finished the trading day 0.32% higher at 25,327.97. Mainland Chinese stocks closed higher, with the Shanghai composite rising 0.18% to 3,539.10 while the Shenzhen component saw fractional gains to 14,705.37.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 1.13% to close at 29,609.97 while the Topix index rose 1.31% to 2,040.60. In South Korea, the Kospi climbed 1.5% on the day to 2,968.80.
Australian stocks also rose as the S&P/ASX 200 closed 0.83% higher at 7,443.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan gained 0.6%.
Currencies and oil
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 95.151 following its jump earlier this week from below 94.4.
The Japanese yen traded at 114.02 per dollar, struggling to recover after weakening from below 113.5 against the greenback earlier in the week. The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7296, still off levels above $0.738 seen earlier this week.
Oil prices were lower, with international benchmark Brent crude futures down 1.3% to $81.79 per barrel. U.S. crude futures fell 1.61% to $80.28 per barrel.
Source: CNBC