Sawt Falasteen - Asian shares rise defying slow Wall Street start to 2025

Hong Kong, Sydney and Taipei stocks climbed, while South Korea's Kospi Index surged nearly two percent higher despite the ongoing political uncertainty in Asia's fourth-largest economy.

South Korean investigators attempted to arrest impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol at his residence Friday morning over his failed martial law bid, but security forces were reportedly blocking their efforts.

After the New Year's Day break, US stocks opened higher on Thursday but tumbled into the red mid-session before concluding the day modestly lower.

The Wall Street losses were driven in part by disappointing results from Tesla, which slumped 6.1 percent after fourth-quarter auto sales lagged expectations.

The dollar index on Thursday hit its highest level against other currencies since November 2022, reflecting expectations that the US economy will outpace others.

"There's still no flagging of the US dollar's vigour, despite US equities struggling on the first trading day of the year," Alvin Tan, head of Asia FX strategy at RBC Capital Markets, said in a note on Friday.

"The very negative performance of China equities (Thursday) provides a better indication of the weakening sentiment around China assets at the start of 2025, and ahead of Trump's return to the White House," Tan added.

After slumping more than two percent on Thursday, Shanghai stocks were still down in Friday morning trade, while Hong Kong was up, reversing the previous day's trend.

Tokyo remains closed until Monday.

Investors are gearing up for big changes in the coming weeks, especially with the January 20 inauguration of Donald Trump, who has threatened deep tariffs, especially on China, that could rattle international trade.

Trump's "policies especially on tariffs are inflationary in their very nature", Jung In Yun, CEO of Fibonacci Asset Management Global, said on Bloomberg Television.

"Inflation being very sticky and refusing to come down means we could have the current state of mid-level interest rates for a prolonged period of time."

US jobless claims released Thursday fell more than expected, highlighting a robust labor market, and leaving the Federal Reserve with less reason to support fresh rate cuts.

Other significant economic releases ahead include data on inflation and retail sales during the holiday shopping season.

- Key figures around 0220 GMT -

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: closed

Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: UP 0.4 percent at 19,705.29

Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 0.7 percent at 3,240.03

Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0268 from $1.0269 on Thursday

Pound/dollar: UP at $1.2388 from $1.2382

Dollar/yen: DOWN at 157.32 yen from 157.52 yen

Euro/pound: DOWN at 82.89 pence from 82.92 pence

Brent North Sea Crude: UP 0.2 percent at $76.09 per barrel

West Texas Intermediate: UP 0.3 percent at $73.32 per barrel

New York - Dow: DOWN 0.4 percent at 42,392.27 (close)

O.Farraj--SF-PST