Manila(Philippines ), Dec 12 (AP) Asian shares rose on Friday, tracking Wall Street's climb to records despite a sell-off for Oracle as worries persisted about a potential bubble in artificial-intelligence technology.

US futures fell while oil prices advanced.

Japan's Nikkei 225 index climbed 1.2 per cent to 50,768.12, rebounding from the previous session's losses.

Investors remain cautious ahead of next week's policy meeting of the Bank of Japan, where it is expected to raise interest rates, but technology shares helped lead broad gains.

Softbank Group's 6 per cent jump in early trading slipped to a 1 per cent gain by midday.

In Chinese markets, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose 1.4 per cent to 25,881.66 while the Shanghai Composite index picked up 0.2 per cent to 3,882.40.

An annual planning meeting, the annual Central Economic Work Conference in Beijing on Wednesday to Thursday, setting China's priorities for 2026. According to state media reports, those include working to reverse a decline in investment and to boost consumer spending. However, no major policy shifts were reported.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.3 per cent to 8,700.80.

In Seoul, South Korea's Kospi rose nearly 0.7 to 4,138.64.

Taiwan's Taiex index added 0.2 per cent while India's BSE Sensex rose 0.4 per cent.

On Thursday, the S&P 500 inched up 0.2 per cent to 6,901.00 and eked past its prior all-time closing high, which was set in October. The Dow Jones Industrial leaped 1.3 per cent to 48,704.01, to top its own record set last month. The Nasdaq composite lagged behind and slipped 0.3 per cent to 23,593.86 because of weakness in AI stocks.

It's the latest return to records for the market following what had appeared to be a debilitating set of worries. Some of the most recent included concerns about what the Federal Reserve will do with interest rates and whether all the dollars flowing into AI chips and data centres will produce profits and productivity as prolific as proponents are promising.

The Fed on Wednesday cut its main interest rate for the third time this year and indicated another cut may be ahead in 2026. Wall Street loves lower interest rates because they can boost the economy and send prices for investments higher, even if they potentially make inflation worse.

But a return to records for the US stock market does not mean all worries are gone.

Oracle dropped 10.8 per cent and had briefly been on track earlier in the day for its worst loss since 2001, when the dot-com bubble was still deflating. Doubts remain about whether all the spending that Oracle is doing on AI technology will be worth it.

Such doubts are weighing on the AI industry broadly, even as many billions of dollars continue to flow in.

Nvidia, the chip company that's become the poster child of the AI boom and is raking in close to USD 20 billion each month, fell 1.5 per cent Thursday. It was the heaviest weight on the S&P 500 because of its massive size.

In other dealings early Friday, US benchmark crude oil gained 52 cents to USD 58.12 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard added 49 cents to USD 61.77 per barrel.

The US dollar rose to 155.70 Japanese yen from 155.58. The euro slid to USD 1.1737 from 1.1739. (AP) RD RD

Asian markets rise despite AI bubble worries as Fed easing and a looming BOJ rate decision shape investor sentiment. Asian equity markets rose while AI-related stocks showed sector-specific weakness as investors balanced risk appetite with doubts about the profitability of concentrated AI investment. The Fed's recent rate cuts and forward guidance bolstered equities, while anticipation of a Bank of Japan rate increase created regional divergence. China's Central Economic Work Conference prioritized reversing investment declines and boosting consumption without major policy shifts, and commodity and currency movements accompanied trading.