Investing.com - Asian stocks traded higher in morning trade on Friday, following the rebound of U.S. stocks overnight.
The S&P 500 climbed 0.3%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 54.6 points while the Nasdaq Composite also rose 0.7% on Wall Street overnight.
Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) was in focus as the stock plunged about 10% in after-hours trading on reports that the SEC is suing CEO Elon Musk.
The Manhattan Federal Court docket said Musk is being charged with securities fraud, Bloomberg first reported. The charges could bar Musk from serving as an officer of the company.
In a lawsuit filed in New York, the SEC said Musk misled investors by claiming that he had lined up funding for the transaction.
In Asia, Japanese stocks outperformed its regional peers as it gained 1.5% by 11:50PM ET (03:50 GMT). A weaker yen was cited as the catalyst for the buying in stocks. A better-than-expected employment report was also cited as supportive. Unemployment rate fell 0.1% from the previous month to 2.4%, data showed. The country also saw an increase in its month-on-month industrial output in August, although the growth was less than economists’ median estimate. Retail sales in August was higher as compared to a year earlier.
South Korea’s KOSPI fell 0.4%, with index heavyweight Samsung Electronics (KS:005930) down more than 1.5% in morning trade after the company announced its chairman Lee Sang-hoon would remain in his role despite an indictment for allegedly sabotaging labor union activities.
China’s Shanghai Composite and the Shenzhen Composite gained 0.9% and 0.5% respectively, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index also advanced 0.6%.
Down under, Australia’s ASX 200 also traded 0.3% higher.