Asia markets live updates: Asia markets mostly rise

Asia-Pacific markets mostly rose Friday, tracking Wall Street gains overnight as President Donald Trump signed a reciprocal tariffs plan, but did not enact the levies immediately.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 was trading down 0.56%, while the broader Topix index was flat.

Over in South Korea, the Kospi was up 0.59% while the small-cap Kosdaq advanced 1.11%.

The country’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate hit 2.9% in January, easing from its three-year high of 3.7% in the month before.

Mainland China’s CSI 300 Index rose 0.7%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index surged 2.24%, extending its gains from the previous session.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.37%, after hitting an intra-day record in the previous session.

India’s benchmark Nifty 50 started the day flat, while the BSE Sensex index opened 0.29% higher.

The South Asian country is expecting its wholesale price inflation figures for January later in the day. The index is expected to rise 2.5% in January, more than 2.3% growth in the previous month, according to LSEG data.

In Southeast Asia, Singapore’s economy expanded by 4.4% in 2024, its fastest growth since 2021, data from the Ministry of Trade and Industry shows. GDP was up 5% year on year in the fourth-quarter of 2024, surpassing the 4.7% growth rate expected by Reuters.

Investors have been watching the city-state’s Straits Times Index which hit an all-time high at the start of the week. The 30-stock benchmark, however, fell 0.12%, following the GDP announcement.

Meanwhile, Malaysia’s economy grew 5.1% in 2024, data from Bank Negara shows. Its GDP expanded 5% in the last quarter of the year, better than the 4.8% estimated by Reuters.