Asia-Pacific markets set to track Wall Street rally

Asia-Pacific markets were mixed Friday, breaking ranks with a rally on Wall Street, fueled by chip and bank stocks.

U.S. semiconductor stocks led gains after Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. delivered another record quarter, saying it expects to boost capital spending in 2026 to between $52 billion and $56 billion.

Investors in Asia are watching chip-related stocks after the U.S. reached a trade deal with Taiwan. As part of the deal, Taiwanese semiconductor companies agreed to invest at least $250 billion in U.S. production capacity in exchange for lower “reciprocal” tariffs.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 0.52%, extending losses from Thursday, while the broad-based Topix was down 0.57%. Softbank Group, which has invested in various chip-related stocks including chip designer Arm, gained 1.04%.

South Korea’s Kospi was 0.3% up, while the small-cap Kosdaq was 0.59% down. Chip heavyweight Samsung Electronics gained 1.11%, but SK Hynix dipped 0.27%.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.22%.

Hong Kong Hang Seng index futures were at 27,150, higher than the HSI’s last close of 26,923.62.

Overnight in the U.S., the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.60%, while the S&P 500 rose 0.26% and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.25%.

U.S. bank stocks also advanced after the latest raft of quarterly earnings. Goldman Sachs advanced more than 4% after its fourth-quarter profit topped Wall Street estimates. 

Morgan Stanley jumped nearly 6% after its wealth management unit contributed to top- and bottom-line beats in the fourth quarter. Both stocks touched fresh 52-week highs.

The rally also came on the back of solid economic data. Jobless claims data for the week ending Jan. 10 came in at 198,000, lower than the 215,000 expected by economists polled by Dow Jones.

—CNBC’s Lisa Kailai Han and Sarah Min contributed to this report.