06:40 AM EDT, 10/03/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Asian stock markets closed mixed on the high side Friday, as tech issues again led gainers.

Tokyo finished in the green, as did most other regional exchanges. Hong Kong eased as traders booked profits, and trading floors in Seoul and Shanghai were closed on holiday.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 opened higher and rose to the close, finishing up 1.9% after it was disclosed that tech conglomerate Hitachi had entered into a partnership with US-based OpenAI, the ChatGPT modeler, to develop energy systems for data centers.

Hitachi closed up 10.3%, as traders crowded into semiconductor and AI-related shares. A softer yen assisted export issues.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 832.77 to 45,769.50, striking a fresh all-time zenith, as gaining issues outnumbered losers 181 to 43.

In economic news, Japan's unemployment rate rose to 2.6% in August, up from 2.3% in July, reported the Ministry of Internal Affairs on Friday.

Separately, Japan's open jobs to job hunter's ratio ticked down to 1.20 from 1.22 in August, meaning there were 120 job openings for every 100 job seekers, according to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.

In other news, Japan's services purchasing managers index (PMI) rose to 53.3 in September from 53.1 in August, logging above the 50-mark that separates growth from contraction, reported S&P Global.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index opened lower and could not recover, as traders consolidated gains from recent rallies.

The broad gauge Hang Seng fell 146.20 to 27,140.92 as losing issues outnumbered gainers 63 to 24. The Hang Seng TECH Index lost 0.9% on the day, while the Mainland Properties Index fell 1.3%.

Leading the upside was Hansoh Pharmaceutical, gaining 1.6%, while EV-maker BYD declined 4.2%.

On the other regional exchanges, the Taiwan TWSE inclined 1.5%; the Australian ASX 200 inclined 0.5%; the Singapore Straits Times Index rose 0.4%, and the Thai Set inclined 0.4%. In late trading in Mumbai, the Sensex was up 0.2%

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