Asian stock markets roiled on Friday, with China-exposed exchanges gaining on the tech-outlook associated with DeepSeek’s AI prowess, while Japan shares ebbed on exchange rates.

Hong Kong rallied, Shanghai gained, but Tokyo finished in the red. Other regional exchanges were also choppy.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 opened evenly but declined through the day, finishing off 0.8% as a stronger yen undercut export issues.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 fell 312.04 to 39,149.43, as losing issues outnumbered gainers 166 to 56.

Leading the upside was printing-house Toppan, up 15.5%, while drugmaker Otsuka declined 9.8%, with both moves following earnings reports.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index opened higher and rallied to the close, finishing up 3.7% in a rally led by tech shares.

The broad gauge Hang Seng rose 805.96 to 22,620.33 as gaining issues outnumbered losers 68 to 11. The Hang Seng TECH Index gained 5.6% on the day, while the Mainland Properties Index rose 2.1%.

Leading the upside was Alibaba Health Information Technology, gaining 29.1%. Pork purveyor WH Group declined by 2.3%.

On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite rose 0.4% to 3,346.72.

In economic news, the People’s Bank of China reported mainland banks extended $706.4 billion in new yuan loans in January, above expectations and considered an indication of Beijing’s resolve to boost monetary stimulus.

On the other regional exchanges, the South Korean KOSPI rose 0.3%; the Taiwan TWSE declined 1%; the Australian ASX 200 inclined 0.2%; the Singapore Straits Times Index fell 0.1%, and the Thai Set declined 0.9%. In late trading in Mumbai, the Sensex was down 0.4%.