Asian Pacific Stocks Rise, Taiwan’s Taiex Leads Gains

Shares in Asia-Pacific rose on Friday following overnight gains on Wall Street with the S&P 500 jumping nearly 2%.

The Taiex in Taiwan surged 2.4% on the day to 16,781.19, leading gains among the region’s major markets, as shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company rose 4.71% following an earnings release a day earlier.

TSMC on Thursday reported a net profit of 156.3 billion Taiwan dollars (around $5.57 billion) for the third quarter ended Sept. 30, above expectations of a 149 billion Taiwan dollars average of analyst estimates compiled by Refinitiv, according to Reuters.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index was 1.17% higher, as of its final hour of trading. Hong Kong stocks returned to trade on Friday after stock markets in the city were closed for two days.

Mainland Chinese stocks closed higher, with the Shanghai composite up 0.4% to 3,572.37 while the Shenzhen component gained 0.52% to 14,415.99.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 climbed 1.81% to close at 29,068.63 while the Topix index advanced 1.86% to finish the trading day at 2,023.93. South Korea’s Kospi closed 0.88% higher at 3,015.06.

Australian stocks closed higher as the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.69% to 7,362. Shares of Qantas Airways jumped 1.97% after the New South Wales government announced Friday that quarantine requirements will be scrapped for fully vaccinated international travellers from Nov. 1.

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MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific stocks outside Japan traded 1.15% higher.

Asian Markets Currencies and Oil

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 93.908 having weakened earlier this week from above 94.5.

The Japanese yen traded at 114.06 per dollar, still weaker than levels below 112.8 seen against the greenback earlier this week. The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7432 following its climb from below $0.74 yesterday.

Oil prices were higher in the afternoon of Asia trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures up 0.99% to $84.83 per barrel. U.S. crude futures gained 0.9% to $82.04 per barrel.