Asian shares' rise broadly cheered by US earnings, rally

TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares gained Friday as investors cheered a strong set of earnings from retailers that has sent U.S. shares higher.

Benchmarks were rising in early trading across the region, including Japan, China, Australia and South Korea.

“Improved risk sentiments in Wall Street, along with earnings outperformance from Alibaba and Baidu, may aid to fuel some upside for the Asia region into today’s session,” said Yeap Jun Rong, market strategist at IG in Singapore.

Shares of Alibaba and Baidu surged after they reported better than expected results, easing some concerns about the negative impact from restrictions to curb COVID-19 infections. Both shares continued to rise.

Gauging Japan's economic path will be on investors' minds as data on manufacturing, housing and employment for April are set to be released next week. Some analysts expect the numbers to be dim because of a slowdown in exports to China during that period.

But some optimism is also in the air, with Tokyo's restrictions on tourists easing and the daily cap raising from 10,000 incoming people to 20,000 starting June 10. The Japanese government, led by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, is also set to push ahead in parliamentary discussions with a supplementary budget, another possible plus for investors.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 added 0.6% in afternoon trading to 26,757.27. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 surged 1.1% to 7,185.00. South Korea's Kospi jumped 1.0% to 2,637.55. Hong Kong's Hang Seng surged 2.1% to 20,545.93, while the Shanghai Composite edged up 0.2% to 3,128.59.

Moody’s Investors Service lowered the 2022 growth projections for G-20 economies to 3.1% in 2022, down from 5.9% growth in 2021. The latest forecast is half a percentage point lower than the 3.6% growth estimated in March. Slowing...