Asian stocks inched up on Friday after a technology-led drop on Wall Street, with gains kept in check by investors’ reluctance to stake out fresh positions ahead of US jobs data later in the global day.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.2 percent. The index climbed 0.4 percent for the week, taking its gains so far this year to 24 percent.
The weighted index on the Taiwan Stock Exchange rose 36.68 points, or 0.35 percent, to 10,506.56. The TAIEX rose 0.8 percent from last week’s 10,423.05 points.
Photo: AP
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index on Friday rose 0.1 percent to 27,562.68 points, while the China Enterprises Index (HSCE) was unchanged at 11,003.08 points.
For the week, the Hang Seng gained 2.2 percent, while the HSCE added 2.3 percent, largely led by strong gains in material and financial firms.
The heavyweight financial sector rose 2.7 percent for the week.
The material sector advanced 4.7 percent in the week, powered by dual-listed Chinese firms whose earnings benefited from China’s continued supply-side reforms to cut excessive capacity.
China’s blue-chip CSI 300 reversed early losses to trade up 0.1 percent.
Japan’s Nikkei dropped 0.3 percent on a stronger yen, ending the week little changed. TOPIX slid 0.2 percent for the day.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index lost 0.3 percent.
South Korea’s KOSPI, which closed at a three-and-a-half-week low on Thursday, recovered 0.4 percent on Friday, paring its losses for the week to 0.2 percent.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg and CNA, with staff writer
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