Stock markets diverge, oil prices slide

HONG KONG: Global stock markets diverged on Friday, with Hong Kong leading gains in Asia thanks to a surge in tech stocks led by e-commerce titan Alibaba.

However, Wall Street was lower at the end of a week marked by uncertainty as traders weighed the economic outlook in light of Donald Trump’s threatened tariffs and geopolitical machinations.

Oil prices fell by two percent with traders looking to a possible return of Russian oil to international markets.

The trading day started off with gains in Asian equities, with Shanghai rising and Hong Kong piling on four percent to hit a three-year high fuelled by tech firms.

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“The gains in Hong Kong and China came amid renewed excitement about the tech sector in the region as Alibaba announced big AI spending plans,” said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.

China’s Alibaba rocketed more than 14 percent following its forecast-busting earnings figures the previous day. The firm has bounced nearly 70 percent higher since the turn of the year.

Other household names pushed the Hang Seng Index higher, with Tencent adding more than six percent, and JD.com and XD Inc gaining more than five percent.

China’s tech sector has been on a roll this year, and has been given an extra boost since startup DeepSeek unveiled a chatbot that upended the global AI sector.

Frankfurt stocks dipped and the euro retreated against the dollar ahead of the German election on Sunday, with investors expecting a more expansionary fiscal policy from Berlin to revive Europe’s largest economy.

“The election comes against a difficult backdrop for Germany right now, as their economy has just experienced two consecutive annual contractions over 2023 and 2024,” said Deutsche Bank’s Jim Reid.

Wall Street’s main stocks indices fell, with the Dow Jones dragged lower due to a nearly nine percent drop in UnitedHealth Group shares following a report that it is under federal fraud investigation for some of its billing practices.

“This news has undercut the stocks of other Medicare Advantage providers,” noted Briefing.com analyst Patrick O’Hare.

In Tokyo, the yen retreated for most of the day after Japanese Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato said Friday that rising government bond yields — which are at their highest since 1999 — could weigh on economic growth.

That dented expectations the Bank of Japan would announce a series of rate hikes this year, even as data showed Japanese core inflation hit a 19-month high.

Nissan shares jumped nearly 10 percent in Tokyo after a report that a Japanese group including a former prime minister plans to ask US electric vehicle giant Tesla to invest in the automaker.

Crude prices fell by around two percent as traders expect the US to ease the sanctions that have limited Russian oil exports, leading to greater supply.

“It is now clear that it is only a matter of time before Trump lifts sanctions against Russia,” said Arne Lohmann Rasmussen, chief analyst with Global Risk Management.

“Although the EU is unlikely to follow suit, such a decision would enable increased Russian exports -– particularly to refineries in China and India,” he added.

– Key figures around 1630 GMT –