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Asian Stocks Mostly Higher Friday      02/14 05:07

   Asian stocks were mostly up Friday on the back of a near-record rally on 
U.S. stocks, as investors paid little attention to U.S. President Donald 
Trump's latest tariff threats.

   HONG KONG (AP) -- Asian stocks were mostly up Friday on the back of a 
near-record rally on U.S. stocks, as investors paid little attention to U.S. 
President Donald Trump's latest tariff threats.

   Hong Kong's Hang Seng index surged 3.69% to 22,620.33, while the Shanghai 
Composite was up 0.43% to 3,346.72. The Nikkei 225 slid 0.79% to 39,149.43. 
Meanwhile, the S&P/ASX 200 in Australia was up 0.19% to 8,555.80 and South 
Korea's KOSPI was up 0.31% to 2,591.05.

   "There are much tailwinds for risk sentiments in the region to tap on, with 
the positive handover in Wall Street, weaker US dollar and lower Treasury 
yields," Yeap Jun Rong, a market strategist at IG, wrote in a note.

   "However, Japan's Nikkei lagged, likely pressured by a stronger yen," he 
said.

   Chinese technology stocks listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange all gained 
on Friday, with stocks from video games firm Tencent and smartphone maker 
Xiaomi surging 7% while e-commerce firm Alibaba and online services firm 
Meituan gained over 6%.

   Chinese technology firms have enjoyed renewed interest since Chinese AI 
company DeepSeek released an artificial intelligence model that rivals those of 
OpenAI while being trained on cheaper hardware. Companies like Alibaba have in 
recent weeks also released new iterations of their own AI models, and search 
engine firm Baidu said Friday that it would make its Ernie Bot AI chatbot 
available for free to public.

   "With Beijing doubling down on AI as a national priority, investors are 
rushing to reprice China's tech and innovation potential. This is no longer 
just a stimulus-driven bounce -- it's a paradigm shift," said Stephen Innes, 
managing partner at SPI Asset Management.

   "If momentum holds, the Hang Seng Index could finally break out of its 
multi-year slump, reigniting global appetite for Chinese equities."

   Early European trading Friday was mostly down after hitting record highs 
earlier this week as hopes rose for a Ukraine peace deal. France's CAC 40 was 
up 0.3%, while Germany's DAX dipped 0.13%. Britain's FTSE 100 was down 0.25%.

   On Thursday, the S&P 500 climbed 1% to pull within 0.1% of its all-time high 
set last month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 342 points, or 0.8%, 
and the Nasdaq composite jumped 1.5%.

   U.S. stocks rose after officials in Washington said reciprocal tariffs would 
take time to implement.

   In energy trading, benchmark U.S crude added 15 cents to $71.44 a barrel. 
Brent crude, the international standard, rose 38 cents to $75.40 a barrel.

   In currency trading, the U.S. dollar weakened to 152.58 Japanese yen from 
152.82 yen. The euro cost $1.0481, up from $1.0466.

 
 
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