2014.02.1408:39:46UTC+00Most Asian shares increase after U.S. climbs

Most Asian stock markets rally on Friday, with Hong Kong shares on track to finish their best week since November, though Japanese stocks shot lower as the yen bolstered versus the dollar.

Sentiment in Asia on Friday was aided by a positive session on Wall Street, where stocks advanced despite weaker-than-assumed readings on retail sales and unemployment claims.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rallied 0.8%, South Korea’s Kospi climbed 0.9% and the Shanghai Composite Index jumped 0.5%.

The disappointing U.S. data weighed on the dollar, which backslide 0.4% versus the yen overnight and extended its losses in Asian trading hours. The dollar moved down under ¥102 and was last at ¥101.74, compared with ¥102.17 late Thursday in New York.

The yen’s rise weighed on Japanese stocks, reversing advances earlier in the session and pushing the Nikkei Stock Average down 1.6%.

Hong Kong’s benchmark Hang Seng Index soared 0.4% Friday, and 2.9% higher for the week, extending advances earlier in the week that followed the release of stronger-than-expected Chinese trade data on Wednesday.

Data from China was also in focus on Friday. Its official consumer-price index appreciated 2.5% on-year last month, the same as December’s increase, but a touch higher than a 2.3% gain projected by economists.

This week’s gains in Asia suggest that the fear which prompted a global selloff earlier this month has dissipated. Still, many markets remain in the red for the year--the Hang Seng relinquished 4.2% and the Kospi is 3.4% down.

In Sydney, shares in Rio Tinto surrendered 0.6% after the world’s second-biggest iron ore miner swung to an yearly earnings thanks to cost-cutting and asset sales. The company reported a net profit of US$3.7 billion in the year through December 31, bouncing back from a net loss of US$3 billion the year before.

Shares in Newcrest Mining, meanwhile, fell 1% in Sydney, after the gold miner said that its first-half net profit fell due to a tumble in the price of the precious metal. The company said that its net profit in the six months through December was 40 million Australian dollars (US$36 million), down from A$323 million a year earlier.

In Singapore, DBS Group Holdings fell 0.7% after Southeast Asia’s largest bank by assets reported that its fourth-quarter net profit rose nearly 6%, helped by growth in both loans and fees earned by wealth-management and other divisions.