Asian Shares Mostly Higher Before Year Ends

(RTTNews) - Asian stocks followed Wall Street higher on Friday, even as overall gains remained capped outside Hong Kong amid worries that a new COVID variant could emerge in China as the virus spreads widely and rapidly.

U.S. health officials and the World Health Organization (WHO) have called on China to share more information on the spread of COVID in the country, saying the lack of transparency could delay the identification of new COVID variants that pose a threat to public health.

Gold edged higher as the latest U.S. labor market data led to some dollar weakness and Treasury yields backing off.

Oil edged up slightly after a three-day run of declines as more countries announce restrictions on Chinese travelers.

China's Shanghai Composite index was up 0.6 percent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index gained 1.2 percent in early trade.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the global body remains concerned over the evolving situation in China due to the unavailability of an apt amount of information from the country about the outbreak.

Japan's Nikkei index was up 0.2 percent after closing off a three-month low the previous day. The yen rose against the dollar as initial optimism over China's reopening fizzled.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose half a percent while New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX-50 index was down 0.6 percent. Seoul's stock markets remain closed for New Year's holiday.

U.S. stocks rallied overnight as investors sought to snap up bargains in the tech sector, looking past worries that new variants could emerge from China's continuing COVID outbreak.

Investors also digested data showing that jobless claims rose slightly in the week ended December 24 but held near historic lows.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index surged 2.6 percent, the S&P 500 climbed 1.8 percent and the Dow added 1.1 percent.

European stocks reversed course to end higher on Thursday, tracking the broad-based rally on Wall Street on the penultimate trading day of the year.

The pan European STOXX 600 rose 0.7 percent. The German DAX gained 1.1 percent, France's CAC 40 index advanced 1 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 edged up 0.2 percent.