Asian stocks rose Friday as tech firms enjoyed a much-needed reprieve from the heavy selling of recent weeks, with a big miss on US jobs creation soothing worries over a Federal Reserve interest rate hike.Regional markets have been in traders' firing line for some time as the prospect of higher borrowing costs -- fueled by a fresh inflation spike -- and concerns about extended valuations have sparked questions about how far the AI equity boom has to run.
That has seen chip firms such as South Korea's SK hynix and Japan's Kioxia plunge from record highs, along with benchmark indexes in Seoul and Tokyo.
But the selling paused on Friday as investors welcomed data showing the US economy added less than half the jobs than forecast in June, while figures for the previous two months were also revised down.
The readings suggested the labor market was not as strong as previously thought, and gives the Fed some breathing room to hold off an expected rate hike for now.
Speculation has grown since the central bank's June policy meeting that it will announce an increase this year as new boss Kevin Warsh said price stability was his key goal, citing persistently elevated inflation.
