HONG KONG: Asian markets rose Friday, with Hong Kong leading the way thanks to a surge in tech stocks led by ecommerce titan Alibaba.

The gains put the region on course to end a positive week on a strong note and came as traders weigh the economic outlook in light of Donald Trump’s tariffs drive and geopolitical machinations.

The yen pulled back a day after rallying past the 150-per-dollar mark following a warning on rising bond yields by Japan’s finance minister saw a rethink over bets on how many interest rate hikes the central bank will announce this year.

Traders have been dealing with a series of Trump headlines this week that have made them consider their investment strategies, with his mulling of more tariffs adding to inflation worries.

Minutes from the Federal Reserve’s January policy meeting, released this week, showed officials concerned that the president’s trade wars and pledges to cut taxes, regulations and immigration will force them to pause their rate cutting for now.

The first high-level discussions between Washington and Moscow since Russia invaded Ukraine — without the presence of Europe or Kyiv — saw the two appoint teams to negotiate an end to the war.

Disappointing earnings from retail titan Walmart sparked worries about US consumer activity and the impact on the world’s top economy, and weighed on Wall Street with all three main indexes ending in negative territory.

But Asia fared, with Hong Kong piling on more than 3.0 per cent to hit a three-year high. The rally was fuelled by tech firms, and particularly Alibaba, which rocketed 14 per cent a day after it released forecast-busting earnings figures. The firm is up around 65 per cent since the turn of the year, and the Hang Seng Index more than 16 per cent.