Investing.com - Asian Pacific shares opened higher on Friday, following a positive session on Wall Street overnight.
The S&P/ASX 200, KOSPI 200, and Nikkei 225 each recorded rises of 0.5%, 0.5%, and 1.7%, respectively.
U.S. stocks ended broadly higher, despite some losses in big-cap tech shares, with the S&P 500 achieving a new closing high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 348 points, or 0.9%, to 38773, the S&P 500 rose by 0.6% to 5029, and the Nasdaq added 0.3% to 15906.
In the commodities market, Brent crude oil rose 1.6% to US$82.88 a barrel, while gold was up 0.6% to US$2,004.65. The energy sector was the best performer, gaining 2.5%, as oil prices climbed due to geopolitical concerns. Major tech stocks like Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), and Nvidia all reported losses.
Economic data has been mixed, with jobless claims coming in lower than expected, while retail sales fell in January. The dollar weakened, and the 10-year Treasury yield declined 0.027 percentage point to 4.239%.
In local bond markets, the yield on Australian 2 Year government bonds was down at 3.81%, while the 10 Year yield also decreased to 4.13%. U.S. Treasury notes were mixed, with the 2 Year yield remaining unchanged at 4.58% and the 10 Year yield dropping to 4.24%.
The Australian dollar rose to 65.20 US cents from its previous close of 64.89. The Wall Street Journal Dollar Index, which tracks the U.S. dollar against 16 other currencies, was down at 98.60.
In Asia, the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong rose 0.4% to close at 15944.63, reversing earlier losses. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average rose 1.2% to close at 38157.94, tracking Wall Street's performance overnight. India's Sensex edged 0.3% higher to close at 72050.38, following Wall Street's gains overnight.
In Europe, shares rose as gains for automotive and defense stocks offset losses for banks. The Stoxx Europe 600 advanced 0.7%, the DAX rallied 0.6%, and the CAC 40 gained 0.9%. The FTSE 100 closed 0.38% higher on Thursday at 7,597.53 points