Nikkei 225, CSI 300, Kospi

South Korea’s Kospi led regional gains, rising 1.81% to breach the 5,000 mark. Battery maker Samsung SDI soared 13.27%, while conglomerate Doosan gained 9%, and heavyweight Samsung Electronics climbed 3.14%. The small-cap Kosdaq index gained 1.5%.

The country’s economy unexpectedly shrank 0.3% on a quarterly basis in the October to December period, its sharpest contraction since 2022. Gross domestic product grew 1.5% year on year, while full-year economic growth slowed to 1%, the weakest since 2020, when output contracted 0.7% during the pandemic.

Trump also said at the World Economic Forum in Davos that he would not use force to acquire the Arctic island, calming nerves over a possible U.S. military action, adding that he had “formed the framework of a future deal with respect to Greenland,” along with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 was up 1.72%, while the broad-based Topix rose 0.97%. Japan saw its December trade figures released today, with the 5.1% export growth missing Reuters-polled analysts’ estimates.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 0.6% and the CSI 300 index on mainland China climbed 0.67%.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.68%, having dropped about 0.4% in the previous session.