Asian Markets Track Wall Street Higher

(RTTNews) - Asian stock markets are mostly higher on Friday, following the broadly positive from Wall Street overnight, as traders remain optimistic about a favorable outcome from the ongoing tariff negotiations between the U.S. and several partner countries, particularly China, Japan, South Korea and India. Comments from two US Fed officials about cutting interest rates also improved market sentiment. Asian markets ended mixed on Thursday.

Hopes for a resolution in U.S.-China trade talks prevail despite Beijing saying there were "absolutely no negotiations on the economy and trade between China and the U.S.

"They had a meeting this morning," U.S. President Trump said Thursday about China. "It doesn't matter who 'they' is. We may reveal it later, but they had meetings this morning, and we've been meeting with China."

The Australian stock market is closed for ANZAC Day holiday on Friday. Australian stocks closed notably higher on Thursday.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.640 on Friday.

Extending the gains in the previous two sessions, the Japanese market is sharply higher on Friday, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is surging to stay just below the 35,600 level, with gains across all sectors led by index heavyweights, exporters and technology stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index closed the morning session at 35,654.24, up 488.24 points or 1.39 percent, after touching a high of 35,654.24 earlier. Japanese shares ended notably higher on Thursday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining almost 3 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is up almost 1 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is gaining more than 1 percent and Honda is adding almost 1 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is gaining 3.5 percent, Tokyo Electron is adding almost 3 percent and Screen Holdings is advancing more than 3 percent.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is gaining more than 1 percent, Mizuho Financial is advancing almost 2 percent and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is adding almost 1 percent.

Among the major exporters, Sony is gaining more than 1 percent, Mitsubishi Electric is adding almost 4 percent, Panasonic is rising more than 2 percent and Canon is advancing 3.5 percent.

Among other major gainers, Nidec is soaring almost 10 percent, Fujikura is climbing more than 8 percent and Renesas Electronics is surging more than 7 percent, while Fujitsu and Furukawa Electric are rising more than 5 percent each. Konica Minolta is advancing almost 5 percent, while Taiyo Yuden and Socionext are gaining more than 4 percent each. Hitachi, Sumco, SMC, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Murata Manufacturing and Lasertec are adding almost 4 percent each.

Conversely, Toho and Hino are losing almost 3 percent each.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 142 yen-range on Friday.

Elsewhere in Asia, Taiwan is up 2.5 percent, while China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Malaysia and Indonesia are higher by between 0.1 and 0.9 percent each. Singapore is bucking the trend and is down 0.5 percent. New Zealand is closed for ANZAC Day holiday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved sharply higher during trading on Thursday adding to the strong gains posted in the two previous sessions. The Nasdaq showed a particularly strong move to the upside, reflecting strength among tech stocks.

The major averages ended the session just off their best levels of the day. The Nasdaq spiked 457.99 points or 2.7 percent to 17,166.04, the S&P 500 surged 108.91 points 2.0 percent at 5,484.77 and the Dow jumped 486.83 points or 1.2 percent to 40,093.40.

The major European markets also moved to the upside over the course of the session. While the German DAX Index climbed by 0.5 percent, the French CAC 40 Index increased by 0.3 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index inched up by 0.1 percent.

Crude oil prices showed a modest move back to the upside on Thursday following the steep drop in the previous session. West Texas Intermediate crude for June delivery rose $0.16 or 0.3 percent to $62.43 a barrel after plunging $1.40 or 2.2 percent to $62.27 a barrel a day earlier.