Asia markets mostly higher as U.S. virus cases surge; Qantas shares in Australia sink 9%

KEY POINTS

• Stocks in Asia Pacific mostly rose on Friday.
• Shares of Australian airline Qantas Airways plummeted 9.07% on Friday.
• The U.S. Federal Reserve on Thursday placed new restrictions on the banking industry after its annual stress test found that several banks could get close to minimum capital levels in scenarios related to the coronavirus pandemic.
• Markets in China were closed for a holiday.

Stocks in Asia Pacific mostly rose on Friday as the coronavirus situation stateside continued to be monitored by investors.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 rose 1.13% to close at 22,512.08 as shares of conglomerate Softbank Group jumped 3.04% while the Topix index added 0.99% to finish its trading day at 1,577.37. South Korea's Kospi also gained 1.05% to close at 2,134.65.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index bucked the overall trend regionally as it slipped 0.77% as of its final hour of trading, with shares of Chinese tech giant Alibaba dropping nearly 3%.

Meanwhile, shares in Australia advanced, with the S&P/ASX 200 up 1.49% to trade at 5,904.10.

Overall, the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index rose 0.36%.

In corporate developments, shares of Australian airline Qantas Airways plummeted 9.07% after the firm announced it had completed a share placement to institutional investors worth approximately 1.36 billion Australian dollars ($936.83 million).  On Thursday, the firm had announced plans to reduce its pre-crisis workforce by at least 6,000 roles as part of steps to recover from the coronavirus pandemic.

Markets in China were closed on Friday for a holiday.

TICKER	COMPANY	NAME	PRICE	CHANGE	%CHANGE
.N225	Nikkei 225 Index	NIKKEI	39,103.22	+486.12	+1.26%
.HSI	Hang Seng Index	HSI	18,868.71	-326.89	-1.70%
.AXJO	S&P/ASX 200	ASX 200	7,811.80	-36.30	-0.46%
.SSEC	Shanghai	SHANGHAI	3,116.39	-42.15	-1.33%
.KS11	KOSPI Index	KOSPI	2,721.81	-1.65	-0.06%
.FTFCNBCA	CNBC 100 ASIA IDX	CNBC 100	9,774.25	+3.33	+0.03%

Investor reaction to the ongoing coronavirus situation in the U.S. continued to be watched on Friday, after the country suffered its single-biggest daily coronavirus cases surge on record. More than 45,000 new coronavirus cases were confirmed on Wednesday, a record that surpassed the previous April 26 peak by over 9,000 cases, according to an NBC News tally.

"The burden on healthcare systems may force city or state governments to pause reopening of their economies or reimpose city-or state-wide lockdowns," Joseph Capuro, head of international economics at Commonwealth Bank of Australia, wrote in a note.

Still, Capurso said: "We doubt a second wave of infections will reverse the current US economic recovery. The reimposition of lockdowns in select US cities will have a much smaller economic impact than state-wide or nation-wide lockdowns."

Meanwhile, the U.S. Federal Reserve on Thursday placed new restrictions on the banking industry after its annual stress test found that several banks could get close to minimum capital levels in scenarios related to the coronavirus pandemic. As a result, banks have to suspend share buyback programs and leave dividend payments at current levels for the third quarter.

Oil prices rise

Oil prices rose in the afternoon of Asian trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures up 0.54% to $41.27 per barrel. U.S. crude futures also gained 0.41% to $38.88 per barrel.

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was last at 97.413 having traded at levels below 97 earlier in the trading week.

The Japanese yen traded at 107.12 per dollar following its weakening from levels below 106.8 against the greenback earlier this week. The Australian dollar was at $0.6882, having risen to levels above $0.695 and traded below $0.685 this week. 

— CNBC's Fred Imbert contributed to this report.

Correction: This article was updated to accurately reflect the direction of the Topix index's movements on Friday.