Most Asian stocks climbed on Friday, driven by a strong rally on Wall Street, robust quarterly earnings from Alphabet, and renewed optimism around trade relations under US President Donald Trump.
While most stocks showed positive trend, Indian stock indices, BSE Sensex and Nifty50, opened higher, but later plunged 700 points with the Sensex at 78,962.42 and Nifty50 also down at 23,926.95 during early trade. This came after seven days of gains, with the market pausing on Thursday, ending in the red due to cautious investor sentiment. Foreign portfolio investors made net purchases of Rs 8,250 crore, while domestic investors sold Rs 534 crore. Market direction will likely depend on global trends and upcoming Q4 earnings.
Meanwhile, Tokyo’s Nikkei rose 1 per cent, with gains also seen in Hong Kong and Shanghai. The Nikkei’s rise came despite a major profit warning from Nissan, which projected losses of up to $5.3 billion for fiscal 2024–25. Still, shares of the automaker jumped more than 3 per cent on Friday. Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Tatsuo Yoshida said markets recognize Nissan is “moving ahead toward turnaround,” noting that booking impairment losses and restructuring charges is a necessary step forward.
Seoul’s benchmark index gained 0.5 per cent after US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent suggested a potential trade “understanding” with South Korea could be reached by next week.
Positive momentum extended across other Asia-Pacific markets, including Taipei, Sydney, Singapore, Manila, and Wellington.
Investor sentiment was further lifted by Alphabet’s impressive quarterly results. The Google parent reported a $34.5 billion profit for the quarter, with revenue up 12 per cent year-over-year to $90.2 billion. Its cloud division saw especially strong growth, rising 28 per cent to $12.3 billion.
Read more: Google parent Alphabet reports 12% revenue surge in Q1, $34.5 billion profit driven by Cloud and AI growth
This comes after US equities extended gains for a third consecutive session on Thursday, even as prospects for trade agreements with China and the European Union remained uncertain.
Also read: Wall Street rallies on strong corporate earnings despite lingering trade war jitters
Meanwhile, Beijing dismissed recent reports of ongoing trade talks with Washington as “groundless,” countering Trump’s optimistic remarks about potentially reducing steep tariffs on Chinese imports. Meanwhile, France’s economy minister Eric Lombard noted that a US-EU trade agreement remains a distant prospect.
Despite these mixed signals, international markets remained resilient. “There are mixed signals about whether there have been some talks about trade between the US and China,” said Lloyd Chan, senior currency analyst at MUFG, in comments to AFP. “Nonetheless, the trade war and US policy-related uncertainty have persisted. Asian economies still face the risk of higher reciprocal tariffs,” he added.
Adding to the optimism, Chan pointed to a growing possibility of earlier-than-expected interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve. Fed Governor Christopher Waller indicated support for easing policy should steep tariffs begin to weigh on employment.
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