Asia-Pacific stocks rise; JD.com shares in Hong Kong surge following Singles Day shopping event
SINGAPORE — Shares in Asia-Pacific advanced on Friday as technology shares mostly rose, following overnight gains for their counterparts on Wall Street.
Hong Kong-listed shares of JD.com soared 5.17% following the Singles Day online shopping event, while Alibaba fell 0.49%. Both companies set new sales records across their platforms on Singles Day.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong-listed shares of Chinese chipmaker Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation dropped 3.83% after the firm said a top executive and multiple board members resigned. The Hang Seng Tech index gained 1.56% to 6,565.53
Other technology stocks in the region rose, with shares of Japanese conglomerate SoftBank Group up 2.58% while South Korea’s LG Electronics surged 3.83%
Those gains came after the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 0.52% overnight stateside to 15,704.28
Asia-Pacific markets higher
The broader Asia-Pacific markets rose on Friday
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index finished the trading day 0.32% higher at 25,327.97. Mainland Chinese stocks closed higher, with the Shanghai composite rising 0.18% to 3,539.10 while the Shenzhen component saw fractional gains to 14,705.37
Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 1.13% to close at 29,609.97 while the Topix index rose 1.31% to 2,040.60. In South Korea, the Kospi climbed 1.5% on the day to 2,968.80
Australian stocks also rose as the S&P/ASX 200 closed 0.83% higher at 7,443
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan gained 0.6%
| TICKER | COMPANY | NAME | PRICE | CHANGE | %CHANGE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| .N225 | Nikkei 225 Index | *NIKKEI | 29609.97 | 332.11 | 1.13 |
| .HSI | Hang Seng Index | *HSI | 25327.97 | 79.98 | 0.32 |
| .AXJO | S&P/ASX 200 | *ASX 200 | 7443 | 61.1 | 0.83 |
| .SSEC | Shanghai | *SHANGHAI | 3539.1 | 6.31 | 0.18 |
| .KS11 | KOSPI Index | *KOSPI | 2968.8 | 43.88 | 1.5 |
| .FTFCNBCA | CNBC 100 ASIA IDX | *CNBC 100 | 10356.79 | 113.19 | 1.1 |
Currencies and oil
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 95.151 following its jump earlier this week from below 94.4
The Japanese yen traded at 114.02 per dollar, struggling to recover after weakening from below 113.5 against the greenback earlier in the week. The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7296, still off levels above $0.738 seen earlier this week
