Asia stocks mostly rose on Friday as the coronavirus situation stateside continued to be monitored by investors.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 rose 1.13% to close at 22,512.08 as shares of conglomerate Softbank Group jumped 3.04% while the Topix index added 0.99% to finish its trading day at 1,577.37. South Korea’s Kospi also gained 1.05% to close at 2,134.65.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index bucked the overall trend regionally as it slipped 0.77% as of its final hour of trading, with shares of Chinese tech giant Alibaba dropping nearly 3%.
Meanwhile, shares in Australia advanced, with the S&P/ASX 200 up 1.49% to trade at 5,904.10.
Overall, the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index rose 0.36%.
Markets in China were closed on Friday for a holiday.