Hong Kong's stock market ended lower Friday with the benchmark Hang Seng Index down 0.98 percent to close at 25,270.07 points.
The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index fell 0.98 percent to end at 9,039.09 points, and the Hang Seng Tech Index fell 0.59 percent to end at 5,543.17 points.
Japan's benchmark Nikkei stock index, the 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average, surged 729.05 points or 1.71 percent to 43,378.31points.
Timothy Pope, a market analyst, recapped stock markets' performance of Hong Kong and Japan this week as follows:
Hong Kong stocks were trading lower today, the Hang Seng off by about 1 percent. The market there has absorbed a lot of earnings this week from Chinese companies, particularly tech giants. Yesterday Tencent reported some very strong revenue growth, up 15 percent for the last quarter which pushed the stock to around a four-and-a-half-year high, and it was still gaining today by 0.34 percent.
JD.com's shares fell today though, 3.4 percent down after its latest quarterly earnings missed estimates. Similar story for gaming giant Netease's down as well. Revenue growth in the second quarter slowed there compared to the first three months of the year. Its shares were down 3.7 percent. Also reporting was Chinese car maker Geely. Its stocks skidded today, down almost 6 percent at one stage, after flagging a 14 percent fall in net profit for the first half of 2025, and that was despite a 27 percent jump in revenue.
Over in Japan, things were going the other way. The Nikkei 225 closed at a record high of 43,378 points. The broader Topix index also closed at a record high, 3,107. Now remember the Topix just crossed the 3,000 point level for the first time just a week ago. So it's continuing to blow through all these barriers. In Tokyo, it was some unexpectedly strong economic data pushing things along today. That showed the Japanese economy has weathered the U.S. tariffs surprisingly well so far, given how dependent it is on exports.
The yen was also down overnight and it was another boon for exporter stocks. There are also some broader expectations for the moment of strengthening Japanese interest rates, and that was really fundamental to boost financial and banking stocks in particular today. The financial sector was critical in underpinning the gains we saw in Nikkei on Friday. We saw the banking group Resona Holdings, one of the leaders, up about 6.5 percent. That being said most of the heavyweights traded higher as well and there were broad gains across most sectors in Tokyo to finish off the week.
Analyst recaps Asian stock markets' performance this week
