Asian Stocks Rise as Shares of Exporters Gain Appeal

Stock prices finished higher Friday in Japan and several other Asian markets as traders looked for bargains, buying technology shares and other issues that stand to benefit from recent strength in the dollar.

The major stock exchanges in the United States, Europe and some Asian countries were closed for Good Friday and the start of the Easter holiday.

Japan’s benchmark stock index edged up 0.1%, while key market indicators rose as much as 1.1% in Taiwan, South Korea, Thailand and Malaysia. The composite index in the Shanghai market slipped 0.2%.

The strongest performance of the day Friday was in Taiwan, where the benchmark index rose 64.91 points, or 1.1%, to 6,065.91. Technology issues were the leaders.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 rose 15.13 points, or 0.1%, to 11,761.10 points. A broader index , which includes all issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s first section, gained 5.33 points, or 0.5%, to 1,193.77 points.

Trading volume fell to 1.307 billion shares from 1.707 billion shares Thursday.

The dollar’s recent rise helped boost shares of Canon Inc., Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Fujitsu Ltd. and Sharp Corp. in Tokyo.

A stronger dollar raises the value of Japanese exporters’ overseas earnings when converted to Japanese yen.

The U.S. dollar rose to 106.38 yen in Tokyo trading, up from 106.33 yen Thursday in New York. It was bolstered earlier in the week by the U.S. Federal Reserve’s quarter-percentage-point hike in a key lending rate and by hints that more rate hikes are coming.