SINGAPORE — Stocks in Asia-Pacific rose on Friday, led by technology shares in the Hong Kong market. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index jumped 2.09% to close at 21,719.06, with the Hang Seng Tech Index rising 4.05%. SenseTime rose 4.74% and Xpeng 7.32%.
Logistics firm GoGoX fell in afternoon trading to close at HK$16.72 ($2.13) after hitting HK$23.15 earlier in its debut session. The offer price of the shares was HK$21.50.
In markets in Japan, the Nikkei 225 rose 1.23% to close at 26,491.97, while the Topix rose 0.81% to 1,866.72.
SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son said on Friday it was highly likely that Arm, the chip designer, would list on Nasdaq, although the decision is not final, Reuters reported.
“Most of Arm’s clients are based in Silicon Valley and … US stock markets would love to have Arm,” Son said at the company’s annual general meeting, according to Reuters. Softbank shares rose 2.37%.
Mainland Chinese markets rose. The Shanghai Composite gained 0.89% in the afternoon to close at 3,349.75, and the Shenzhen Component rose 1.369% to 12,686.03.
South Korea’s Kospi gained 2.26% to end the session at 2,366.6, and the Kosdaq advanced around 5% to 750.3.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.77% to close at 6,578.7. The New Zealand market is closed for a holiday on Friday.
MSCI’s broader index of Asia-Pacific shares rose 1.32%.
Markets will find more stability when leading indicators and inflation data start to bottom out, said Viktor Shvets, head of global and Asian strategy at Macquarie Capital.
“Right now, markets are much more petrified by recession than inflation,” he told CNBC’s “Street Signs Asia.”
“I think in the next three to six months, we’re going to find out what it is, whether we’re going to be dodging the recession or going much deeper than that,” he added.
Core consumer prices in Japan rose 2.1% in the month of May compared to a year earlier, in line with estimates, according to Reuters. That is above the Bank of Japan’s target of 2% inflation.
