Asian Markets Rally on Friday as China’s Policy Boost Lifts Stocks

Asian markets ended the week on a strong note, with Chinese equities surging amid policy optimism, while Japan and South Korea saw mixed performance.

Mainland China’s A-shares rallied, with all three major indexes posting significant gains. The Shanghai Composite climbed back above 3,400 points to a new year-to-date high, while the ChiNext Index jumped over 3% intraday. Turnover expanded to CNY 1.79 trillion, up CNY 185.1 billion from the previous session. Consumer sectors, gold, financials, and fertility-related stocks led the gains.

Hong Kong stocks staged a strong rebound, with the Hang Seng Index and Hang Seng Tech Index both jumping over 2%. Notable gainers included WuXi AppTec’s spin-off WuXi XDC (+11%), KE Holdings (+8%), BYD (+7%), and Meituan (+5%). Baby and childcare stocks also surged, with Jinxin Fertility skyrocketing nearly 42%.

Analysts attributed the rally to three key factors: the upcoming government policy announcements, as China’s State Council is set to introduce new measures to boost domestic consumption on March 17; signals of monetary policy easing, with the PBOC hinting at potential rate cuts and reserve requirement reductions; and new financial regulations supporting consumer lending, encouraging banks to expand personal consumption loan issuance.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 rose 0.7% to 37,053.10, driven by gains in electronics and machinery stocks. Investors remained cautious ahead of upcoming monetary policy meetings in both the U.S. and Japan, leading to a consolidation around the 37,000 level. Meanwhile, South Korea’s Kospi Index slipped 0.3% to close at 2,566.36.

Elsewhere in the region, Singapore's STI Index was last trading at 3,834.82 (-0.07%), while Malaysia's FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI stood at 1,515.73 (+0.38%).