According to a report from the Wall Street Journal,Asian stocks rose Friday, as positive political and economic news from the U.S. supported sentiment. Hong Kong-listed Chinese companies were the best performers of the week.
The greenback came off its highest level against the yen since early July. It was at ¥101.02 compared with ¥101.15 late Thursday in New York after spiking earlier in the day.
Japan's Nikkei gained as much as 1.1% in the morning, helped by the Japanese currency weakening beyond the ¥101 mark, but erased most its gains in the afternoon, closing 0.1% higher than Thursday.
Sharp Corp. was one of the biggest gainers in Tokyo, up 7.7%, after a Nikkei report that the LCD panel maker is set to begin production of small and midsize panels to supply China's ZTE Corp.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.9%, helped by energy and mining stocks. Aurora Oil & Gas rose 3.4% and BHP Billiton added 0.7%.
South Korea's Kospi was up 0.6%, while Thailand's SET lost 1.2%.
Hong Kong stocks continued to push higher on Friday, while Shanghai moderated. The Hang Seng Index added 0.5% and the Shanghai Composite was down 0.4%.
Friday's gains come at an end of a week dominated by outperformance of Chinese stocks. Last Friday, Beijing released a broad outline for structural reform of the economy, which boosted Chinese stocks on Monday. Although the initial excitement is over, as data released on Thursday showed that the pace of growth in China's manufacturing activity eased in November, stocks in Hong Kong and Shanghai remain Asia's best performers for the week.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index rose 7.2% in the week, whle the Shanghai Composite rose 2.8%.
