According to HKET, RTHK and Yonhap, Asian equities split at midday Friday, with Hong Kong leading declines as banks and technology names sold off, while Taiwan and South Korea clung to modest gains and Tokyo pared the prior day's rally.

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 stood at 68,332.46 as of 04:32 UTC, down 0.91% or 624.26 points, as investors locked in profits following the index's roughly 2,200-point surge on Thursday. SoftBank Group fell 5.45% and Tokyo Electron dropped 4.21%, though test-equipment maker Advantest advanced 3.64%; fibre-optic makers Fujikura and Furukawa Electric rose sharply on AI data-centre demand.

Seoul's KOSPI held firmer, trading at 6,985.75 as of 04:32 UTC, up 0.21% or 14.40 points, recovering after an early dip to about 6,936 driven by foreign selling. Samsung Electronics was little changed, down 0.09%, while SK Hynix added 0.76%.

Hong Kong stocks slid in the first session after the holiday, with the Hang Seng Index at 23,964.38 as of 04:32 UTC, down 2.64% or 648.89 points and losing the 24,000 level for the first time since mid-July; the Hang Seng Tech Index fell 2.45%. HSBC dropped more than 4%, while AIA and Standard Chartered shed close to 5%. Among tech names, Xiaomi fell 4.52%, Alibaba declined 2.25%, Meituan eased 2.16% and Tencent lost 2.09%. Galaxy Entertainment dropped more than 5% after Macau reported September gaming revenue down 1.2% year-on-year, while Seres bucked the trend with a gain of more than 8% on an expanded five-year partnership with Huawei.

Taiwan's TAIEX edged higher to 48,436.14 as of 04:32 UTC, up 0.17% or 82.65 points, holding above 48,400, with gains in optical-communication and passive-component shares offsetting weakness in heavyweights; TSMC slipped 0.40% and MediaTek eased 0.80%.

Mainland China's markets were closed for the National Day Golden Week holiday and will resume trading on Oct. 8.