Asia stocks mostly up, early US rate hike unlikely

Asian markets mostly rose Friday morning following another record close on Wall Street as the likelihood of a US interest rate hike in the near term dwindled. Shanghai surged 1.23 percent, Hong Kong gained 1.19 percent, Sydney added 0.19 percent and Seoul gained 0.27 percent. On Wall Street the S&P 500 closed at another all-time high thanks to strong earnings results and a multi-billion-dollar pharma merger.