Asian Shares Mixed, China Tech Stocks Surge Amid Renewed Interest

Asian equities witnessed a mixed session on Friday, with Chinese technology stocks posting gains while most others declined.

Indices Performance:

* Nikkei 225 (Japan): -0.44% to 38,893.65
* S&P/ASX 200 (Australia): -0.04% to 8,517.20
* Kospi (South Korea): -0.23% to 2,530.79
* Hang Seng (Hong Kong): +1.35% to 31,173.35
* Shanghai Composite (China): +1.33% to 3,314.29

Chinese Tech Stocks Gain Momentum:

Hong Kong-listed Chinese technology stocks exhibited a bullish trend, boosted by renewed interest sparked by AI models released by DeepSeek.

* Xiaomi: +5.67% to 42.85 Hong Kong dollars
* Alibaba: +1.47% to 100 Hong Kong dollars
* Tencent: +1.90% to 428.40 Hong Kong dollars

Yen Strength Weighs on Nikkei:

Japan's Nikkei index may face downward pressure due to a stronger yen, reinforced by January's robust household spending data, which raises anticipations for further rate hikes by the Bank of Japan.

Wall Street Performance:

On Thursday, Wall Street markets demonstrated mixed performance:

* S&P 500: +0.36%
* Dow Jones Industrial Average: -0.28%
* Nasdaq Composite: +0.51%

Tariff Uncertainty:

Investors remain apprehensive about the uncertainties surrounding President Trump's tariffs. Despite granting a 30-day reprieve for tariffs on Mexico and Canada, the administration has imposed 10% tariffs on Chinese goods, eliciting retaliatory tariffs from China.

Energy and Currency Markets:

* U.S. crude: +30 cents to $70.91 a barrel
* Brent crude: +34 cents to $74.63 a barrel
* USD/JPY: 151.55 yen
* EUR/USD: $1.0379