Asian stocks experienced a rise on Friday, propelled by the projection-surpassing results from Meta and Amazon. Despite Apple experiencing strong results for its fiscal first quarter, it failed to meet Wall Street's expectations for China sales.
Investors also benefited from a generally weaker dollar and falling yields, as recent signals point to possible weaknesses in the U.S. labor market. The U.S. January jobs report is to be released later in the day, with job growth expected to show a slight decline.
In contrast, Chinese stocks witnessed a significant drop despite government promises of additional fiscal stimulus to counteract the intensifying property slump. The Shanghai Composite index dramatically decreased by 1.46 percent, landing at 2,730.15 while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong closed at a lower rate of 0.21 percent at 15,533.56, cancelling out earlier gains.
Japanese stocks saw minor increases, particularly in chip-related domains, which followed the U.S. market's upward trend. The Nikkei average rose 0.41 percent to 36,158.02 and the Topix index saw an increase of 0.22 percent, wrapping up at 2,539.68.
Aozora Bank experienced a 15.9 percent plunge extending previous session losses, anticipating its first yearly net loss in a decade and a half due to the increase in U.S. commercial property provisions. Conversely, Nippon Television Holdings saw a whopping 22.8 percent surge following a share buyback announcement, and both TV Asahi Holdings and TBS Holdings experienced rallies of 17.6 percent and 16.7 percent respectively.
South Korean businesses flourished as data revealed that exports from the country rose for the fourth month in January, and consumer inflation reduced to a six-month low. The Kospi average significantly rose by 2.87 percent to 2,615.31, spearheaded by auto and chip-related stocks such as Hyundai Motor, Samsung Electronics, and SK Hynix who gained 9.1 percent, 2.2 percent, and 1.7 percent respectively.
Australian markets also ascended, on account of expectations that the Reserve Bank of Australia will maintain current rates next week. A favorable producer price inflation reading further buoyed market sentiment.
U.S. stocks recovered after their largest daily fall of 2024 due to a hawkish Fed policy statement. The Dow rose by 1 percent, while the Nasdaq Composite and the S&P 500 both saw increases of around 1.3 percent as Treasury yields declined due to softer labor market data. U.S. jobless claims rose last week, while business activity in the manufacturing sector continued to contract in January, according to separate reports.
