GLOBAL MARKETS: Most Asian stocks rise as calm returns after shock from cloud company's debt pile

TOKYO - Asian stocks rebounded on Friday following heavy selling in the previous session when investors dumped tech shares as questions about cloud company CoreWeave's debt pile fuelled worries about the financing driving the AI boom.

However, Indonesia's equity benchmark .JKSE slumped 11%, the most since 1998, after MSCI said the stock market no longer merited "emerging market" status.

The index provider is preparing to cut the Southeast Asian stock market from a suite of products tracked by global investors, a major setback likely to send money fleeing.

"The proposal highlights MSCI's dissatisfaction with the pace of reforms and raises further questions about the investability of the market," said Tan Altundag, investment manager for emerging equities at Pictet Asset Management.

"The investment implications could be significant," added Altundag, who has no holdings in Indonesia.

Bond markets stabilised after yields plunged on Thursday as traders bought up Treasuries and other safe-haven sovereign debt. The dollar limped towards its first weekly loss in five weeks as lower US yields eroded the currency's appeal. FRX/

Gold extended Thursday's highs, while Brent crude edged down toward $105.

Japan's tech-heavy Nikkei .N225 rose 1.9%, making back some of Thursday's almost 5% tumble. South Korea's KOSPI .KS11 climbed 3.3%, following a nearly 8% plunge.

Taiwan's stock benchmark .TWII rose 0.3% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng .HSI added 1%. Mainland Chinese blue chips .CSI300 were little changed.

Pan-European STOXX 50 futures STXEc1 advanced 0.7%.

US stock futures edged up, with tech-focused Nasdaq futures NQc1 and S&P 500 futures EScv1 each 0.2% higher, after the respective cash indexes notched small gains on Thursday. .N

Shares of Nvidia-backed CoreWeave CRWV.O recovered some composure on Thursday after starting the session by extending Wednesday's 15.5% slump amid reports that its bond yields had reached highs associated with distressed debt, triggering a broad, AI-centred equity selloff globally.

PRESSURE ON SHARES OF MEMORY MAKERS

Analysts also pointed to the pressure on memory maker shares this week after China's ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) reported progress on a next-generation DRAM architecture that could intensify competition with established manufacturers.

"Global markets are getting very noisy once again after a period of low volatility: Wall Street is whipsawing, bond yields are swinging, currency markets are doing backflips, and commodity prices are running in multiple directions," Kyle Rodda, a markets analyst at Capital.com, wrote in a client note.

"Global markets could potentially be in for a protracted period of this sort of volatility," he added, with tech companies due to annnounce earnings in coming weeks, and markets also attempting to gauge the trajectory of key interest rates.

Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh voiced optimism about US economic strength in comments at IMF/World Bank meetings in Bangkok on Friday, but gave away little on chances for a rate hike this month, repeating that he does not "prejudge meetings".

Earlier, Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey said soaring energy prices caused by the Iran war appeared to be having limited wider effects on British prices so far, but it was too soon to draw firm conclusions.

Lower US yields this week sapped demand for the dollar, with the dollar index =USD languishing below 102 after a sharp pullback from Wednesday's 1-1/2-year high near 103. The index is down 0.3% for the week.

That gave the euro EUR= some welcome respite, after it pulled itself up from as low as $1.1113 on Wednesday to stand at $1.1226 on Friday.

Sterling GBP= edged up to $1.3295, building on a jump of 0.6% from Thursday.

The dollar was little changed at 157.86 yen JPY=.

Gold XAU= inched higher to around $4,173, after climbing 1.6% on Thursday amid demand for safe havens.

Crude oil edged lower as investors weighed Middle East risks and possible US steps to ease curbs on the world’s "shadow fleet" of tankers. O/R

The Trump administration is considering lifting sanctions on some such vessels that carried oil and petroleum products from countries including Russia, Iran and Venezuela, in a bid to cut record global freight rates, a US official said on Wednesday.

The escalating conflict between Saudi Arabia and Yemen's Houthis and renewed attacks on ships in the region have supported prices.

Brent crude futures LCOc1 eased 0.7% to $105.14 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate crude futures CLc1 were down 0.7% to $97.26.

- Kevin Buckland; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Clarence Fernandez/Reuters