06:40 AM EDT, 08/07/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Asian stock markets rallied on Thursday on better-than-expected trade figures from Beijing, and overnight signals from New York exchanges.

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

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 finished up 0.7% on Wall Street cues, and after reports that tech-giant Apple (AAPL) plans an additional $100 billion in outlays to boost US production, possibly sourcing capital equipment from Japanese enterprises.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 264.29 to 41,059.15, as gaining issues outnumbered losers 161 to 63.

Leading the upside was online medical service provider M3, up 22%, while Furukawa Electric declined 7.5%. Both moves followed earnings reports.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index also closed up 0.7% after Beijing reported better-than-expected international trade figures for July.

The broad gauge Hang Seng rose 171.00 to 25,081.63, as gaining issues outnumbered losers 66 to 18. The Hang Seng TECH Index gained 0.2% on the day, while the Mainland Properties Index rose 2.1%.

Leading the upside was gaming house Sands China, gaining 5%, while Wuxi Biologics declined 5.1%.

On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite rose 0.2% to 3,639.67.

In economic news, mainland China exports rose 7.2% on the year in July, while imports gained 4.1% in the same period, reported the General Administration of Customs.

On the other regional exchanges, the S. Korean KOSPI rose 0.9%; the Taiwan TWSE advanced 2.4%; the Australian ASX 200 declined 0.1%; the Singapore Straits Times Index rose 0.7%, and the Thai Set gained 0.1%. In late trading in Mumbai, the Sensex was up 0.2%.

The Taiwan TWSE gain was led by a 5.7% rise in index-heavyweight Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSM) shares after US President Donald Trump remarked he may impose larger tariffs on imported chips, a move that could benefit the Taiwan-based chipmaker, which is building a factory in Arizona.