Shares in Asia-Pacific rose on Friday following overnight gains stateside that saw the S&P 500 hitting a record closing high.
Shares of China’s Kuaishou Technology soared in their Hong Kong debut, rocketing nearly 200% from their issue price of 115 Hong Kong dollars (about $14.83) per share. The stock later pared those initial gains, but was still up about 160.87% on the day.
Meanwhile, the benchmark Hang Seng index in Hong Kong gained 0.6% to close at 29,288.68. Mainland Chinese stocks lagged as they closed lower: The Shanghai composite was down 0.16% to 3,496.33 while the Shenzhen component declined 0.653% to about 15,007.30
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 gained 1.54% to close at 28,779.19 while the Topix index rose 1.38% to finish its trading day at 1,890.95.
South Korea’s Kospi advanced 1.07% to close at 3,120.63.
Shares in Australia rose as the S&P/ASX 200 gained 1.11% on the day to 6,840.50.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.43%.
Shares of Japanese automakers rallied following a Nikkei report that Apple is in discussions with at least six companies about working on the “Apple Car.”
By the market close in Japan, Mazda Motor surged 18.52%, Mitsubishi Motors soared 8.13%, Nissan jumped 7.51%, Honda gained 2.03%, Toyota rose 2.1% and Suzuki Motor advanced 1.73%.
The development follows a CNBC report Wednesday that Apple is finalizing a deal with Hyundai-Kia to manufacture an Apple-branded autonomous electric vehicle. Sources told CNBC that the deal was not yet completed and that Apple may ultimately choose another automaker to partner with instead of or in addition to Hyundai.
Shares of Kia in South Korea have surged more than 60% so far this year, while Hyundai shares have risen about 30%.
Overnight on Wall Street, the S&P 500 rose 1.1% to a record closing high of 3,871.74. The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 332.26 points to close at 31,055.86 while the Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.2% to 13,777.74, also touching a new high.
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 91.457 after touching an earlier high of 91.602.
The Japanese yen traded at 105.43 per dollar after weakening from levels below 105.2 against the greenback yesterday. The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7618, having slipped from above $0.764 yesterday.
Oil prices were higher in the afternoon of Asia trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures up 0.97% to $59.41 per barrel. U.S. crude futures gained 0.96% to $56.77 per barrel.
