Following days of tumultuous trading this week, Asia-Pacific stocks mixed on Friday as investors continued to monitor the omicron Covid variant’s situation.
Didi, the ride-hailing giant, announced Friday that it would begin the process of delisting from the New York Stock Exchange less than six months after it debuted there. Chinese tech stocks in Hong Kong fell as a result. In addition, the company stated in the statement that it intends to seek a listing in Hong Kong.
Tencent shares fell 2.32 percent in Hong Kong, while Alibaba fell 2.61 percent and Meituan fell 2.66 percent. The Hang Seng Technology index fell 1.53 percent to 5,925.52.
The broader Hang Seng index in Hong Kong closed the day about 0.1 percent lower at 23,766.69.
The Shanghai composite finished 0.94 percent higher at 3,607.43, and the Shenzhen component finished 0.857 percent higher at 14,892.05. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 ended the day 1% higher at 28,029.57, while the Topix index gained 1.63 percent to 1,957.86. SoftBank Group shares, which own a significant stake in Didi, fell 0.71 percent. The Kospi in South Korea rose 0.78 percent to close at 2,968.33.
Shares in Australia rose as well, with the S&P/ASX 200 rising 0.22 percent on the day to 7,241.20.
Wall Street stocks rose sharply overnight, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising 617.75 points to 34,639.79 and the S&P 500 rising 1.42 percent to 4,577.10. The Nasdaq Composite Index increased 0.83 percent to 15,381.32.
Oil jumps more than 2%
In the afternoon of Asian trading hours, oil prices rose 2.57 percent, with international benchmark Brent crude futures reaching $71.46 per barrel. In the United States, crude futures rose 2.69 percent to $68.29 per barrel. The US dollar index, which measures the greenback value against a basket of currencies, was at 96.238, recovered from a low of below 96.
The Japanese yen was trading at 113.40 per dollar, remaining stronger than earlier this week’s highs of 113.4. The Australian dollar was trading at $0.7063, down from earlier this week’s highs of $0.715.
