Asian stocks traded mixed on Friday, with several regional markets attempting to recover after sliding on trade jitters in the last session. The mixed picture also came on the back of tech-led gains seen stateside as Apple became the first publicly traded U.S. company to hit a market cap of $1 trillion.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 edged up by 0.25 percent, led by the transport equipment and automobile sectors, with Suzuki Motor up 8.21 percent after reporting strong earnings. Overall gains were capped by declines seen in utilities and financials.
In South Korea, the Kospi added 0.47 percent as the manufacturing sector notched gains in morning trade, with cosmetics also climbing. Index heavyweight Samsung Electronics traded flat. Australian stocks also tracked slightly higher, with the S&P/ASX 200 up 0.1 percent amid broad-based gains.
Elsewhere, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was marginally lower, trading down 0.06 percent. Chinese shares also stumbled in the morning, with the Shanghai Composite inching lower by 0.03 percent and the smaller Shenzhen Composite slipping 0.51 percent.
The cautious mood came amid an elevation in trade tensions between the U.S. and China. The Trump administration said that President Donald Trump had asked U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to consider hiking proposed tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports from a previously announced 10 percent to 25 percent.
China responded on Thursday, saying that it was “fully prepared” to defend “the interests of the people … [and] free trade.”
“Any hope of U.S.-China trade dispute resolution is predicated on the ability to walk in each other’s shoes, not running one another down. And that appears to [be] too much to hope for,” Vishnu Varathan, head of economics and strategy at Mizuho Bank, said in a morning note.
Wall Street shrugged off those concerns to close higher on Thursday, with the positive sentiment driven by a tech-led gains. Apple took the crown to become the first publicly traded U.S. company to reach the $1 trillion market value milestone. Apple shares have been on a tear since the company reported strong third-quarter earnings earlier this week.
In currencies, the dollar mostly held onto overnight gains made amid trade worries. The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of peers, last stood at 95.154 after touching a two-week high earlier.
The offshore yuan traded at 6.8936 to the dollar at 10:07 a.m. HK/SIN after slipping to a more than 14-month low overnight.
Meanwhile, the pound was on the back foot even after the Bank of England announced an interest rate hike, with the central bank noting that Brexit talks were entering “a critical period.” The currency last traded at $1.3009.
On the earnings front in Asia, companies expected to report results on Friday include Toyota Motor.
Singapore lender UOB, meanwhile, reported net profit rose 28 percent to 1.08 billion Singapore dollars ($787 million) in the second quarter. The result topped an average forecast of S$993.9 million from two analysts, Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S said. Shares were higher by 0.3 percent.
Investors will also be watching for the release of the July jobs report stateside due during U.S. hours. Nonfarm payrolls are expected to show an increase of 190,000 jobs, according to a Reuters poll.
— CNBC’s Fred Imbert contributed to this report.
