Asian markets were mixed on Friday, with Tokyo’s Nikkei surging on the back of a weaker yen, while Wall Street provided an uneven lead.

The yen resumed its downtrend after a brief rally as the country’s vice finance minister indicated the new hawkish government would step in to stop the currency from returning to record highs against the dollar.

Tokyo surged 2.14 per cent, Hong Kong added 0.11 per cent and Sydney was 0.42 per cent higher while Shanghai climbed 0.10 per cent but Seoul lost 0.69 per cent.