SINGAPORE — Shares in Asia-Pacific rose in Friday trade, as investors monitored Hong Kong-listed stocks of firms in regulation-hit sectors such as video games.
By Friday afternoon in Hong Kong, shares of Tencent in the city jumped 1.67% while Netease gained 2.32% — a partial recovery after the heavy losses seen Thursday.
Gaming stocks had tumbled on Thursday as the South China Morning Post reported that the Chinese government will suspend approvals for new online games in the country. After the market close, however, the media outlet corrected the report to instead say regulators will slow the approvals process.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong-listed shares of embattled Chinese property developer China Evergrande Group slid 0.85% as concerns remain around the firm’s debt situation.
The broader Hang Seng index in Hong Kong jumped 1.65%, following its more than 2% decline on Thursday. Mainland Chinese stocks edged higher, with the Shanghai composite rising 0.43% while the Shenzhen component gained 0.595%.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 rose 1.1% while the Topix index advanced 1.01%. South Korea’s Kospi edged 0.39% higher.
The S&P/ASX 200 in Australia gained 0.39%.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan traded 0.42% higher.
Meanwhile, the European Central Bank announced Thursday a slowing in the pace of net asset purchases under its pandemic emergency purchase program.
Overnight on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 151.69 points to 34,879.38 while the S&P 500 shed 0.46% to 4,493.28. The Nasdaq Composite dipped 0.25% to 15,248.25.
Currencies and oil
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 92.485 after falling earlier in the week from above 92.7.
The Japanese yen traded at 109.87 per dollar, stronger than levels around 110.4 seen against the greenback earlier this week. The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.738 following a decline from above $0.744 seen earlier in the trading week.
Oil prices were higher in the afternoon of Asia trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures slipping 0.56% to $71.85 per barrel. U.S. crude futures gained 0.47% to $68.46 per barrel.
