Chinese stocks up nearly 2.4%, leading gains in Asia, despite fall on Wall Street: Live updates

Asia-Pacific markets mostly rose on Friday despite a plunge in all three benchmarks in the U.S. over the previous session amid concern about President Donald Trump’s tariff plans.

Mainland China’s CSI 300 traded 2.34% higher as of 1:24 p.m. Singapore time, leading gains in Asia. The increase was led by stocks in the healthcare, consumer cyclicals and non-cyclicals sectors.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index saw substantial gains, rising 1.9%. Pharmaceuticals company WuXi Biologics was the top mover in the index, gaining 14.38%.

Other top performing stocks include BYD which surged 6.43%, Ping An Insurance which was up 6.12% and Meituan which rose 5.90%.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 ended the trading day 0.52% higher at 7,789.70.

In Japan, the benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 0.89% in its final hour, while the broader Topix index gained 0.79%.

South Korea’s Kospi index fell 0.17%, while the small-cap Kosdaq advanced 1.86%.

These moves come after another escalation in the developing trade war, with Trump threatening to enact 200% tariffs on all alcoholic products coming from the European Union in retaliation for the bloc’s 50% tariff on whiskey. Trump on Thursday said, “I’m not going to bend at all” regarding tariffs.  

Michael Strobaek, global chief investment officer at private bank Lombard Odier, noted that uncertainties around Trump’s policies “means market risk.”

“There will be so much for markets to digest, and navigate so many ‘unknown unknowns’,” he wrote in a Friday note.

He suggested that investors play the market by “filtering out the noise.” “The macroeconomic and market fundamentals remain solid, but there will be a lot of uncertainty ahead. In the face of volatility, a high degree of diversification is the prudent portfolio response,” Strobaek added.

— CNBC’s Lisa Kailai Han and Pia Singh contributed to this report.