November 19, 2025, Shanghai, China: A boat sails on the Huangpu River passing through downtown Shanghai. The tallest building on the skyline is the Shanghai Tower (back).
Bernd von Utrzenka | Picture Alliance | Getty Images
Defense stocks across Asia rose on Friday as investors continued to monitor continued geopolitical tensions following the U.S. operation that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and President Donald Trump’s renewed push to seize Greenland.
Shares of South Korea’s Hanwha Aerospace rose more than 11%. Pungsan rose more than 6%, and Korea Aerospace rose 4.9%. In Japan, Kawasaki Heavy Industries shares rose 3.17%. IHI Added 3.32%.
Markets in the region traded mixedly.
China’s CSI300 index rose 0.45% to close at 4,758.92, as consumer prices rose 0.8% year-on-year in December, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics on Friday. The figure follows a 0.7% rise in November and was in line with economists’ forecasts in a Reuters poll. Factory gate prices in December fell 1.9% year-on-year, exceeding the expected 2% decline.
hong kong Hang Seng Index It rose by 0.32%.
Japanese benchmark Nikkei Stock Average rose 1.61% to close at 51,939.89, while TOPIX rose 0.85% to 3,514.11.
shares of fast retailing Shares soared more than 7% after Uniqlo’s Japanese operator said its quarterly operating profit rose by about a third and raised its full-year forecast.
The company cited strong global sales that helped offset the impact of U.S. tariffs, adding that it maintained its profit growth trajectory for the fifth consecutive year, supported by strong sales in China and rapid expansion in North America and Europe.
South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.75% to close at 4,586.32, while the small-cap Kosdaq rose 0.41% to 947.92.
australian S&P/ASX 200 It was 8,717.8, just below the flat line. shares of rio tinto Shares fell more than 6% after the mining company announced late Thursday that it had entered early-stage acquisition talks. glencore. If the merger is successful, it would create a mining giant with a market capitalization of about $207 billion.
US stock futures were little changed in early Asian trading ahead of the crucial December jobs report and a possible US Supreme Court ruling on tariffs. The Supreme Court could rule on the legality of President Donald Trump’s tariffs, potentially affecting trade policy and the nation’s fiscal health.
Overnight in the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose as investors moved away from tech stocks, weighing on the Nasdaq Composite Index.
The Dow 30 rose 270.03 points (0.55%) to close at 49,266.11. The tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 0.44% to settle at 23,480.02. The S&P 500 rose 0.01% to close at 6,921.46. Information technology was a laggard among the S&P 500’s 11 sectors, falling more than 1%.
—CNBC’s Pia Singh and Sean Conlon contributed to this report.
