Asia-Pacific stocks jumped in Friday trade, with shares in Hong Kong and mainland China among the region’s biggest gainers.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index jumped 1.43%, as of its final hour of trading.
Shares of Chinese tech firms listed in the city surged: Tencent rose 2.83%, Alibaba jumped 2.19% while Meituan soared 5.21%. The broader Hang Seng Tech index gained 2.35%.
Mainland Chinese stocks closed higher, with the Shanghai composite up 1.15% to 3,607.56 while the Shenzhen component gained 1.482% to 15,003.85.
Elsewhere, South Korea’s Kospi advanced 0.51% to a new record close of 3,302.84.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.66% to close at 29,066.18 while the Topix index gained 0.8% on the day to 1,962.65.
Elsewhere, the S&P/ASX 200 in Australia edged 0.45% higher to close at 7,308.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.96%.
Chinese electric vehicle maker XPeng on Friday announced the launch of its Hong Kong public offering. CNBC reported Wednesday that the firm had gotten the green light to carry out an IPO in the city.
XPeng said the offer price for the Hong Kong public offering “will not be more than HK$180.00 per share” ($23). The firm, already listed in the U.S., is set to carry out a dual primary listing that will subject it to the rules and oversight of both U.S. and Hong Kong regulators.
Asian Markets Currencies and oil
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 91.761 as it struggled to recover to levels above 92.1 seen earlier this week.
The Japanese yen traded at 110.75 per dollar, still weaker than levels below 110.4 seen against the greenback earlier in the trading week. The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7594, above levels below $0.756 seen earlier this week.
Oil prices were higher in the afternoon of Asia trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures rising 0.15% to $75.67 per barrel. U.S. crude futures gained 0.12% to $73.39 per barrel.
