Optimism on the economic recovery led by US retail data from March led most Asian stocks to gain slightly on Friday.
Despite the latest news from the US Labour Department of an unexpected rise in US jobless claims by 18000 to 460,000, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index jumped 293.39 points (or 1.34%) to 22160.43 points at noon on Friday. The index closed at 22208.5 points, up 341.46 points (1.56%) on the day, with the best performing sectors coming from commerce and industry which boasted an increase of 1.88%. Within this sector the biggest winner was China Mobile, which saw its share price surge by 1.99%.
The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index also gained, up by 191.41 points (1.49%) to 13046.72 points, and the Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.85% to 3145.35 on Friday after a drop of 0.94% on Thursday.
In Australia, resource stocks were higher on Friday. The stock price of Macarthur Coal Ltd. surged 8.29% after it rejected a AUS$3.71bn takeover from New Hope Corp. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index gained 10.2 points (0.2%) to 4948.1 points on Friday.
Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average climbed 36.14 points (0.32%) to 11204.34 points on Friday, and in Singapore the Straits Times Index added 4 points (0.14%) to 2967.19 points.
In Singapore the Straits Times Index added 4.98 points (0.17%) to 2968.17 points.
