Asian Markets Trade Mostly Higher

(RTTNews) - Asian stock markets are trading mostly higher on Friday, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, as traders hope for an end to the tariff uncertainty after US President Donald Trump confirmed he will not extend the August 1 deadline for striking trade deals, though he continues to threaten higher reciprocal tariffs on various sectors and countries. Asian markets ended mostly higher on Thursday.

The Australian stock market is trading modestly lower on Friday after opening in the green, reversing some of the gains in the previous session, despite the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is staying below the 8,600 level, with weakness in gold miner and energy stocks partially offset by gains in iron ore miner stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 19.30 points or 0.23 percent to 8,569.90, after touching a high of 8,619.80 and a low of 8,568.20 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 16.80 points or 0.19 percent to 8,809.90. Australian stocks closed notably higher on Thursday.

Among major miners, BHP Group is gaining almost 3 percent, Rio Tinto is adding more than 2 percent, Mineral Resources is surging almost 7 percent and Fortescue Metals is advancing almost 4 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Santos is losing almost 1 percent, while Origin Energy, Beach energy and Woodside Energy are edging down 0.2 to 0.4 percent.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay-owner Block is losing almost 1 percent, Xero is down almost 2 percent and Zip is edging down 0.3 percent, while Appen is advancing more than 2 percent. WiseTech Global is flat.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank and Westpac are edging down 0.5 percent each, while National Australia Bank is losing almost 1 percent. ANZ Banking is edging up 0.3 percent.

Gold miners are mostly lower. Evolution Mining and Northern Star Resources are declining more than 2 percent each, while Gold Road Resources is losing more than 1 percent and Resolute Mining is down 1.5 percent. Newmont is flat.

In other news, shares in Johns Lyng are skyrocketing almost 22 percent after it had agreed to a $1 billion takeover deal by private equity group Pacific Equity Partners.

Shares in Lynas Rare Earths are jumping more than 17 percent and fellow ASX-listed rare earths company Iluka Resources soared almost 20 percent after US-based MP Materials skyrocketed 51 percent on the news it has struck a multi-billion dollar deal with the US Department of Defense to build a new magnet plant and expand rare earth capabilities.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.658 on Friday.

Extending the losses in the previous session, the Japanese market is slightly lower in choppy trading on Friday after opening in the green, despite the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is falling below the 39,600 level, with weakness in exporters and technology stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index closed the morning session at 39,593.84, down 52.52 points or 0.13 percent, after touching a high of 39,957.80 and a low of 39,553.79 earlier. Japanese shares ended modestly lower on Thursday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is edging down 0.1 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is tumbling almost 6 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is edging up 0.5 percent and Honda is also edging up 0.1 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is gaining almost 2 percent, Tokyo Electron is adding almost 1 percent and Screen Holdings is edging up 0.3 percent.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are gaining more than 1 percent each, while Mizuho Financial is adding almost 2 percent. Among the major exporters, Sony, Mitsubishi Electric and Canon are edging down 0.1 to 0.4 percent each, while Panasonic is gaining almost 1 percent.

Among other major losers, Furukawa Electric and Fujikura are declining more than 3 percent each, while LY and Japan Steel Works are losing almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Sumco is gaining more than 4 percent, while Omron, Daikin Industries and Seven & I Holdings are advancing almost 4 percent each. Subaru is up more than 3 percent, while Sumitomo Pharma, Casio Computer, Renesas Electronics, Kubota, T&D Holdings, Mazda Motor, Shiseido, JFE Holdings and Astellas Pharma are adding almost 3 percent each.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 146 yen-range on Friday.

Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong is up 1.8 percent, while China, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia are higher by between 0.3 and 0.8 percent each. New Zealand and South Korea are down 0.5 and 0.2 percent, respectively. Taiwan is relatively flat. On Wall Street, stocks moved mostly higher during trading on Thursday, adding to the strong gains posted during Wednesday's session. With the upward move, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 reached new record closing highs.

The major averages pulled back off their highs going into the end of the day but still closed in positive territory. The Dow climbed 192.34 points or 0.4 percent to 44,650.64, the Nasdaq inched up 19.33 points or 0.1 percent to 20,630.66 and the S&P 500 rose 17.20 points or 0.3 percent to 6,280.46.

Meanwhile, the major European markets also ended the day mixed. While the German DAX Index decreased by 0.4 percent, the French CAC 40 Index rose by 0.3 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index jumped by 1.2 percent.

Crude oil prices fell on Thursday amid concerns about a supply increase for August by OPEC, the huge crude stock inventory in the United States and intensifying U.S. tariff pressures. West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery tumbled $1.81 to settle at $66.57 per barrel.