Asia-Pacific equities traded broadly higher on Friday, with investors looking beyond weaker technology stocks after a mixed session on Wall Street, where semiconductor shares remained under pressure despite the Dow Jones reaching another record high.
By 12:00 pm AEST, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 had climbed 1.1%, Japan's Nikkei 225 gained 0.6%, while South Korea's KOSPI 200 led regional advances with a 2.7% rise.
The gains followed a mixed overnight performance in the United States. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.1% to a fresh record closing high, while the S&P 500 finished little changed. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 0.8% as investors continued rotating out of semiconductor stocks.
Commodity markets were mixed following weaker-than-expected U.S. employment data, which reduced expectations of further interest rate increases by the Federal Reserve.
ICE Brent crude futures rose 0.3% to settle at US$71.80 a barrel after earlier falling to their lowest level since 27 February, while spot gold jumped 2.3% to settle at US$4,121.86 an ounce.
Chinese equities underperformed regional peers on Thursday, with the Shanghai SSE Composite Index falling 2% to 4,028.9, while the CSI 300 dropped 3% to 4,812.3.
Elsewhere in the region, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gained 0.8% to 23,055.0, while India's BSE Sensex added 0.8% to 77,502.1.
European markets also ended Thursday's session firmly higher. The UK's FTSE 100 rose 1.7% to 10,652.9, Germany's DAX climbed 2.2% to 25,580.9, and France's CAC 40 advanced 1.7% to 8,474.9.
