Asian shares rally on US tech bounce

SYDNEY, Feb 2 (Reuters): Asian shares were buoyed by a late bounce in US tech on Friday as results from Meta and Amazon beat expectations, while investors are bracing for US jobs figures, which could hasten bets for rate cuts if they come in below forecast.
Both quarterly results from Meta Platforms and Amazon.com impressed investors, with their shares surging 15 per cent and 7 per cent in after-hour trading, respectively, adding a combined $280 billion in stock market value on Thursday. Apple, however, fell 3 per cent after the close on disappointing China sales.
In Asia, Japan's Nikkei added 0.5 per cent, bringing the weekly gain to 1.2 per cent, while MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan jumped 1.2 per cent and was up 0.7 per cent on the week.
However, weak China sentiment again weighed on the local markets. China's bluechips fell 0.7 per cent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index pared earlier gains to be up just 0.3 per cent.
Concerns about the health of regional lenders resurfaced after New York Community Bancorp reported increased stress in its commercial real estate portfolio.
"It does provide another bit of a headwind for sentiment within the equity market. But for the Fed, I think that at this stage it's not yet a concern that will tilt them or force them into some policy action," said Rodrigo Catril, senior FX strategist at National Australia Bank.
For now, investors are mostly waiting for U.S. payrolls data on Friday. Economists expect the US economy added 180,000 new jobs in January, while the jobless rate ticked up to 3.8 per cent from 3.7 per cent.
That would come after a surprise jump in jobless claims and a weak private payrolls report.
"If you look at the distributions of the survey, it actually has a significantly wide distribution, so there's a greater degree of uncertainty in terms of the outcome," said Catril from NAB.