Investors in Hong Kong watch the decline of Chinese tech stocks amidst growing concerns over the Covid-19 situation in China.

• The decline in shares in Asia-Pacific on Friday was mainly due to investors' ongoing digestion of the Fed's plans to combat inflation, despite a comeback on Wall Street earlier in the day.
• U.S. stock indexes finished slightly higher, with defensive stocks leading the way.

In Asia-Pacific, shares were mixed on Friday, with Chinese tech shares declining and the Covid situation in China being closely monitored by investors.

In afternoon trade, Hong Kong's stock market fell 0.24%, while the Hang Seng Tech index dropped 1.83%. Additionally, the Hang Seng Mainland index slid 2.47%, and the Hang Seng China Services index shed 3.35%. Lastly, the Hang Seng Composite index lost 2.70%.

While the  gained 0.47% to close at 3,251.85, the  was down 0.11% at 11,959.27 in Mainland Chinese markets.

On April 7, Shanghai reported 20,398 new asymptomatic coronavirus cases and 824 new symptomatic cases, prompting the city to implement a strict lockdown in an effort to halt the spread of the virus.

According to a Morgan Stanley note dated April 7, the near-term sentiment for Chinese shares may remain restrained due to a combination of macroeconomic challenges, the spread of Omicron, global liquidity concerns, and tensions between the US and China.

The bank's analysts observed that domestic consumption in China is slow, and warned that the intermittent spread of the virus beyond Shanghai could result in stricter measures in other regions.

While Japan's Nikkei index gained 0.36% to 26,985.80, the Topix inched up 0.21% to 1,896.79. Despite this, both indexes struggled for direction.

In South Korea, the stock market advanced by 0.17% to close at 2,700.39, while the Kosdaq rose by 0.73% to 934.73.

Australia’s was up 0.47% at 7,478.

Currently, the biggest challenge for Asia markets is the U.S., where markets are reacting to hawkish signals from the Fed, according to Julia Wang, a global market strategist at JPMorgan Private Bank.

The Fed's concern over inflation data is causing weaker risk appetite in Asia, as stated by the speaker on CNBC's "Street Signs Asia" on Friday.

Inflation in the U.S. will continue to affect market sentiment in Asia, she stated.

U.S. stock indexes slightly rose at the close, reversing earlier losses.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500, and Nasdaq Composite all experienced gains after losing points earlier in the session. The Dow gained 87.06 points or 0.25%, to 34,583.57, while the S&P 500 was up 0.43% at 4,500.21. The Nasdaq Composite inched up 0.06% to 13,897.30, following two straight days of losses.

Defensive stocks such as consumer staples and health care led the market comeback.

Markets were still influenced by the Fed minutes' reaction early yesterday morning, according to Taylor Nugent, an economist at the National Australia Bank, in a note.

The number of weekly jobless claims in the U.S. decreased to 166,000 last week, which is the lowest figure in over 53 years.

Since March 2019, the 10-year Treasury yield has reached its highest level of 2.667%, but later retreated to 2.6584%.

The Reserve Bank of India will meet for the final day of its monetary policy meetings. According to a Reuters poll, economists predict that interest rates will only increase in August.

Currencies

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a group of other currencies, rose to 99.972.

The traded at 124.05 per dollar, while the was at $0.7458.

Oil futures flipped back to positive territory in the afternoon in Asia.

While the international benchmark increased by 0.26% to $100.84 per barrel, the stock gained 0.4% to trade at $96.41 per barrel.