06:51 AM EDT, 05/22/2026 (MT Newswires) -- Asian stock markets gained ground on AI-sector optimism, earnings, and media reports on a possible Persian Gulf peace deal.

Hong Kong, Shanghai and Tokyo finished in the green, as did most other regional exchanges.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 opened evenly and rose to the close, finishing up 2.7% on tech-sector gains, and piling onto a 3.1% rise on the index on Thursday.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 1,654.93 to 63,339.07, striking a fresh all-time high, as gaining issues outnumbered losers 119 to 100.

Leading the upside was tech-financier SoftBank, up 11.9%, while insurer Tokio Marine declined 4.1%.

In economic news, Japan's consumer price index-core (CPI-core), that strips out fresh food bills, rose 1.4% on year in April, decelerating from a 1.8% on-year gain in March, reported the Statistics Bureau.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index opened higher and held ground, closing up 0.9% as tech gains more than offset property share declines.

The broad gauge Hang Seng rose 219.51 to 25,606.03 as gaining issues outnumbered losers 52 to 36. The Hang Seng TECH Index gained 2.1% on the day, while the Mainland Properties Index fell 1.7%.

Leading the upside was computer-maker Lenovo, gaining 19.8% after reporting earnings and citing AI-related revenue. Hot-pot dining chain HaiDiLao lost 4%.

On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite rose 0.9% to 4,112.90.

On the other regional exchanges, the S. Korean KOSPI rose 0.4%; the Taiwan TWSE inclined 2.2%; the Australian ASX 200 inclined 0.4%; the Singapore Straits Times Index rose 0.4%, and the Thai Set inclined 0.4%. In late trading in Mumbai, the Sensex was up 0.6%.

The MSCI All Country Asia Pacific Index rose 0.9% on the day.