10:41 AM EST, 12/18/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Asian equities traded in the US as American depositary receipts were sharply higher Thursday morning, rising 1.39% to 2,650.36 on the S&P Asia 50 ADR Index.

From North Asia, the gainers were led by fintech firm Maase ( MAAS ) and education company 51Talk Online Education Group (COE), which rose 6.5% and 5.9%, respectively. They were followed by tech firm Xunlei ( XNET ) and semiconductor company Silicon Motion Technology ( SIMO ) , which were up 5% and 4.6%, respectively.

The decliners from North Asia were led by automotive marketplace Token Cat ( TC ) and utilities company Korea Electric Power ( KEP ) , which fell 9.5% and 3.3% respectively. They were followed by brand platform 36Kr (KRKR) and automotive platform Cango ( CANG ) , which were down 3.2% and 1.5% respectively.

From South Asia, the gainers were led by tech conglomerate Sea (SE) and IT firm Infosys ( INFY ) , which increased 1.8% and 1.7% respectively. They were followed by lender ICICI Bank ( IBN ) and IT company Wipro ( WIT ) , which advanced 1.2% each.

The only decliners from South Asia were telecommunications operators Telekomunikasi Indonesia (TLK) and PLDT (PHI), which lost 1.6% and 0.5% respectively.