TOKYO — Asian stock indexes rose moderately in quiet holiday trading on Good Friday as some markets were closed.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 NIK, +0.40% edged up 0.6% in early trading. South Korea’s Kospi SEU, +0.29% rose 0.3% and the Shanghai Composite SHCOMP, -0.08% gained 0.6%.
Some markets remain closed for a national holiday, including in the U.S., Hong Kong, Australia and parts of Europe.
Among individual stocks, Nintendo 7974, +13.68% surged in Tokyo trading after the videogame company said it was teaming with Tencent 0700, -1.01% to sell its Switch gaming console in China, potentially open up a lucrative new market. Nissan shares 7201, -2.50% fell after a report that the auto maker would slash global output by 15% this fiscal year. SK Hynix 000660, +3.28% jumped in South Korea, as Samsung 005930, -0.33% rose slightly.
Overnight, major U.S. stock indexes capped the holiday shortened week with slight gains, although the marginal upward move was not enough to keep the benchmark S&P 500 index from snapping a string of three straight weekly gains.
The S&P 500 SPX, +0.16% gained 4.58 points, or 0.2%, to 2,905.03. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +0.42% rose 110 points, or 0.4%, to 26,559.54. The Nasdaq composite COMP, +0.02% inched 1.98 points higher, or less than 0.1%, to 7,998.06.
Benchmark U.S. crude oil CLK9, +0.38% added 7 cents to $64.07 a barrel. It rose 0.4% to settle at $64 per barrel Thursday. Brent crude LCOM9, +0.54% , the international standard, added 0.5% to $71.97 per barrel.
The dollar USDJPY, -0.06% rose slightly to 111.92 Japanese yen from 111.89 yen late Thursday.
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