
Asian benchmarks rose Friday, cheered by gains on Wall Street as the Federal Reserve chairman assured markets over expected interest rate increases.
Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 0.6% in afternoon trading to 28,242.31. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 added 0.7% to 6,894.20. Hong Kong's Hang Seng jumped 2.6% to 19,339.03, while the Shanghai Composite added 0.8% to 3,261.34. Trading was closed in South Korea for a holiday.