Asian Stocks Rise as Tech Rally Continues

Asian stocks rose in early Friday trading after tech stocks led a rally on Wall Street. Japan's Nikkei 225 index increased by 0.6% to 64,622.33, while South Korea's Kospi gained 0.9% to 6,635.67.

The Shanghai Composite added 0.8% to 3,973.27, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng jumped 2.1% to 25,751.26. The rally on Wall Street was led by big technology companies, including Microsoft, Apple, and Meta, which rose 2.7%, 1%, and 3%, respectively.

Nvidia, a giant chipmaker, climbed 1.8% after announcing its plan to buy the AI platform Hugging Face for $13 billion. The recent surge in energy prices was attributed to the ongoing conflict between the US and Iran, which has led to increased tensions in the Middle East.