Asian shares rose to record highs on Friday, with Japan's Nikkei hitting a three-decade peak as investors looked beyond rising coronavirus cases and political unrest in the United States to focus on hopes for an economic recovery later in the year.
The buoyant mood lifted MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan up 1%, touching a record high. Chinese blue-chip shares were flat after recent gains and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose only 0.48% after the state of Queensland enforced a three-day lockdown in its capital Brisbane following the discovery of a case of the more contagious UK variant of COVID-19.
U.S. government officials have begun weighing removing President Donald Trump from office before Biden's inauguration date of Jan. 20, after Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol building.