Stocks in Asia rose in Friday morning trade, despite increased U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods due to kick in later in the day.
The Nikkei 225 in Japan gained 0.42% in early trade, with shares of index heavyweight Fast Retailing adding 0.57%. The Topix also rose 0.4%.
In South Korea, the Kospi attempted to bounce back from Thursday’s losses, rising around 1% after market open. The index had tumbled around 3% in the previous session. Shares of industry heavyweight Samsung Electronics gained 1.3%.
The ASX 200 in Australia also rose 0.27% as most sectors advanced.
In overnight market action, U.S. stocks declined ahead of the implementation of higher tariffs from Washington on Chinese goods.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 138.97 points to close at 25,828.36 while the S&P 500 declined around 0.3% to finish at 2,870.72. The Nasdaq Composite shed 0.41% to close at 7,910.59.
Investors remained on edge as they continued to monitor for developments on the U.S.-China trade front.
A 12:01 a.m. ET Friday deadline has been set by U.S. President Donald Trump for the implementation of higher tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods. China has said it will retaliate if the higher levies are imposed.
“With the Friday deadline looming, President Trump is still keeping the market guessing,” Kathy Lien, managing director of foreign exchange strategy at BK Asset Management, wrote in a note.
Chinese Vice Premier Liu He is currently in Washington for trade negotiations with the U.S. Liu, however, is meeting with Trump’s trade team without the title of “special envoy” for Chinese President Xi Jinping, a role he held in previous talks, suggesting he may have diminished authority to make concessions that could be crucial to striking a deal.
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 97.431 after slipping from levels above 97.5 yesterday.
The Japanese yen, widely viewed as a safe-haven currency, traded at 109.84 against the dollar after strengthening from levels above 109.9 in the previous session. The Australian dollar was at $0.6992, in a turbulent trading week that has seen the currency scale highs above $0.7020.
Oil prices rose in the morning of Asian trading hours, with the international benchmark Brent crude futures contract gaining 0.6% to $70.81 per barrel and U.S. crude futures adding 0.84% to $62.22 per barrel.
— CNBC’s Yun Li contributed to this report.
