- Gaza cultural heritage brought to light in Geneva
- 'Bullet for democracy': Trump returns to site of rally shooting
- Italy targets climate activists in 'anti-Gandhi' demo clampdown
- South Korean cult-horror series 'Hellbound' returns at BIFF
- Nepalis fear more floods as climate change melts glaciers
- Honduras arrests environmentalist's alleged murderer
- Padres pitcher Musgrove needs elbow surgery
- Supreme Court lets stand rules to curb mercury, methane emissions
- Boston beat Denver in NBA exhibition season opener, but Jokic says omens are good
- Chagos diaspora angry at lack of input on islands' fate
- Biden says 'not confident' of peaceful US election
- US trade chief defends tariff hikes when paired with investment
- Lukaku stars as Napoli beat Como to hold Serie A top spot
- Ohtani set for MLB playoff debut as Dodgers face Padres
- Pogba's drug ban cut to 18 months from four years
- Devine leads New Zealand to big win over India in Women's T20 World Cup
- Bosnia floods kill 16 people
- EU court blocks French ban on vegetable 'steak' labelling
- Prosecutors seek dismissal of rape charges against French rugby players
- Meta AI turns pictures into videos with sound
- Bolivia's Morales says claims he raped a minor are a 'lie'
- MLB Reds hire two-time champion Francona as manager
- Daniel Maldini receives first Italy call-up for Nations League
- US dockworkers return to ports after three-day strike
- Ancelotti points finger at Madrid's 'lack of intensity'
- Haiti reeling after 70 killed in gang attack
- Five Czech kids in hospital over TikTok 'piercing challenge'
- What happens next in Iran-Israel conflict?
- Country star Garth Brooks denies rape accusations
- Stubbs hits maiden century as South Africa make 343-4 against Ireland
- DR Congo to begin mpox vaccination campaign Saturday in east
- Odegaard injury has forced Arsenal to be 'different', says Arteta
- Ratcliffe refuses to guarantee Ten Hag's Man Utd future
- Meta must limit data use for targeted ads: EU court
- Mauritius to hold legislative election on November 10
- Britain qualify for America's Cup final after 60-year wait
- IMF asks Sri Lanka to protect hard-won gains
- Morata returns to Spain Nations League squad after injury
- Irish regulator to probe Ryanair use of facial recognition
- Public allowed to see video evidence in France mass rape trial
- US hiring soars past expectations in sign of resilient market
- Under-fire Ten Hag 'together' with Man Utd hierarchy
- Guardiola talks of Man City love affair as financial hearing rumbles on
- De Bruyne out of Belgium Nations League squad
- Japanese trainer Yahagi hopes Shin Emperor achieves 50-year-old Arc dream
- UK's Starmer hails 'landmark' carbon capture funding
- As EU targets Chinese cars, European rivals sputter
- Bosnia floods kill 14 people
- Tennis world number one Swiatek splits with coach Wiktorowski
- Liverpool share responsibility for Nunez goal drought, says Slot
Asian markets mostly rise as Hong Kong reopens, eyes on US jobs
Asian markets mostly rose Friday as a rally in Hong Kong on its first day back from a break helped overcome a sharp drop on Wall Street, though a surprisingly hawkish tilt from the European Central Bank added fuel to fears about the removal of pandemic-era stimulus.
All eyes are now on the release later in the day of US jobs data, which is often used as a guide for possible Federal Reserve policy decisions, before next week's eagerly awaited inflation report.
With the jobs market well on the recovery track as the economy reopens, the central bank has said it feels it has enough room to begin raising interest rates from March to fight soaring inflation, which is sitting at a four-decade high.
However, while the outlook for growth remains upbeat, investors are having to recalibrate to adjust to the end of the era of cheap cash, which has helped fan a two-year rally that has pushed markets to record or multi-year highs.
Several Fed officials have come out recently to insist they will not put the recovery at risk in their tightening campaign, though debate on trading floors is rife about how much they will lift borrowing costs in March and how many more times they will do so this year.
Commentators say a strong reading on the jobs front Friday would revive talk of a more hawkish move in March with a 50 basis-point lift, as opposed to the 25 basis points usually announced.
The ECB's apparent shift in its outlook towards lifting rates this year itself stunned investors Thursday.
Boss Christine Lagarde has for months said inflationary pressures would be temporary and dissipate as the world economy reopens and supply chains resume -- allowing the bank to keep rates ultra-low this year.
But a record jump in prices last month and no sign of them easing has forced her to re-evaluate, saying the "situation had indeed changed".
The news came as the Bank of England announced a second successive increase.
"The first half of this year we are now experiencing a rates shock," Tracy Chen, of Brandywine Global Investment Management, told Bloomberg Television.
"If the Fed and BoE and other (emerging market) central banks are too aggressive in hiking interest rates, potentially we are going to face kind of a recession risk in the second half, or at least more slowdown in the economy."
The ECB news jolted US markets, which were already owing to a rout in tech stocks that came after Meta's sobering earnings report that sparked a 25 percent drop in its shares.
However, a blockbuster reading from Amazon -- which saw it record sales of almost $140 billion in the holiday quarter -- soothed some of those concerns and provided some support to Asia on Friday.
Hong Kong led the way, rising more than two percent as investors in the city returned from a three-day Lunar New Year break. Seoul, Singapore, Manila and Jakarta were also up. Tokyo was flat while Sydney and Wellington dipped.
On oil markets, WTI held above the $90 mark it broke Thursday for the first time in seven years, as traders bet on continued improvement in demand thanks to the economic reopening, and with the United States being hit with a cold snap.
Lingering worries over Ukraine-Russia tensions were also playing a key role in the spike, with analysts predicting $100 could be breached soon.
- Key figures around 0230 GMT -
Tokyo - Nikkei 225: FLAT at 27,233.83 (break)
Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: UP 2.5 percent at 24,388.00
Shanghai - Composite: Closed for a holiday
Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1453 from $1.1438 late Thursday
Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3605 from $1.3601
Euro/pound: UP at 84.18 pence from 84.06 pence
Dollar/yen: DOWN at 114.92 yen from 114.95 yen
West Texas Intermediate: UP 0.7 percent at $90.93 per barrel
Brent North Sea crude: UP 0.5 percent at $91.60 per barrel
New York - Dow: DOWN 1.5 percent at 35,111.16 (close)
London - FTSE 100: DOWN 0.7 percent at 7,528.84 (close)
F.Cardoso--PC