A recovery in Asia-Pacific tech stocks gained momentum on Friday as a global sell-off gave way to renewed bullishness in growth stock markets.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Tech index rose as much 1.8 per cent after reversing heavy losses to gain more than 1 per cent on Thursday afternoon.
Alibaba, the Chinese ecommerce group, gained as much as 5.5 per cent, following strong gains on Thursday, while rival JD.com added as much as 5.1 per cent. GDS Holdings, a Chinese data centre operator, rose 6.76 per cent, reversing declines from the previous day.
The optimism among tech companies helped boost the city’s benchmark Hang Seng index as much as 1.5 per cent.
In Australia, where “buy now, pay later” provider Afterpay advanced as much as 4.1 per cent after losing more than 10 per cent on Thursday, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.3 per cent.
In South Korea, the Kospi gained as much as 1.3 per cent, while Japan’s Topix fell to a small loss in the afternoon after gains in the morning.
US futures edged higher, as did gold and oil prices. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury note dropped one basis point to 1.72 per cent.
In the US, the biggest event on the economic horizon is the release of January’s payroll data. Stronger figures could encourage the Federal Reserve to accelerate its interest rate rises, which would hit rate-sensitive tech stocks.
Read More: Live news: Asia tech stock recovery gains momentum as traders look forward to US payroll