Chinese stocks rose on the first day of trade after a week-long holiday, tracking other stock markets across Asia-Pacific as markets on Wall Street rallied. Data on Friday also showed that the services activity in China returned to positive levels.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 leaped 370.73 points, or 1.3%, to 28,048.94.
The Japanese yen traded at 111.96 per dollar, weakening from earlier levels around 111.4.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng added 136.12, or 0.6%, to 24,837.85,
In Korea, stocks fell just short of breakeven. In its earnings estimates on Friday, Samsung said its operating profit for the quarter that ended in September was likely up 28% from a year ago to 15.8 trillion Korean won ($13.26 billion U.S.).
That is set to be Samsung’s best quarterly profit in three years — since the third quarter of 2018 when Samsung posted a profit of more than 17.5 trillion won. The stock initially rose following the release of the earnings estimates, but ended the day 0.14% lower.
The Australian dollar changed hands at 0.7293, falling back following earlier levels of around 0.73.
CHINA
In China, the CSI 300 jumped 63.56 points, or 1.3%, to 4,929.94.
China’s CSI 300 real estate index was down more than 1% by the afternoon.
Activity in China’s services sector grew in September, data from a private survey showed on Friday.
The Caixin/Markit services Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) rose to 53.4 from 46.7 in August, recovering from the lowest level seen since the height of the pandemic last year, according to Reuters. The 50-point mark separates growth from contraction.
In other markets
In Taiwan, the Taiex docked 73.43 points, or 0.4%, to 16,640.43.
In Korea, the Kospi index dipped 3.16 points, or 0.1%, to 2,959.30
In Singapore, the Straits Times moved up 11.66 points, or 0.4%, to 2,956.30
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 lost 18 points, or 0.1%, to 13,086.61
In Australia, the ASX 200 marched ahead 63.43 points, or 0.9%, at 7,320.09
