Tokyo climbed one per cent, while Hong Kong, Shanghai were also up.
The Nikkei rise came despite struggling Japanese auto giant Nissan issuing a stark profit warning on Thursday, forecasting a huge loss of up to US$5.3 billion in the 2024 to 2025 financial year.
The markets see that the company “is moving ahead toward turnaround”, said Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Tatsuo Yoshida, as Nissan shares climbed more than three per cent on Friday.
“Booking significant impairment losses and restructuring charges is a necessary step toward Nissan Motor’s turnaround.”
Seoul jumped 0.5 per cent after US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said a trade “understanding” between South Korea and the US could be reached by next week.
Taipei, Sydney, Singapore, Manila and Wellington also climbed.
Markets were responding to strong earnings from Google parent Alphabet, which reported on Thursday a profit of US$34.5 billion in the recently ended quarter.
Overall revenue at Alphabet grew 12 per cent to US$90.2 billion compared to the same period a year earlier, while revenue for the cloud unit grew 28 per cent to US$12.3 billion, according to the tech giant.
MUFG’s Chan also pointed to the Federal Reserve possibly cutting interest rates sooner than expected.
Fed Governor Christopher Waller said during an interview with Bloomberg Television that he would support interest rate cuts if harsh tariffs hurt the jobs market.
“In terms of the latest Fed speak, Fed’s Waller has said he would support rate cuts should there be a significant deterioration in the labour market,” Chan said.
