VIENNA (dpa-AFX) - European markets are likely to see a muted opening on Friday amid mixed cues from Asia and Wall Street. That said, optimism over corporate earnings as well as U.S. President Donald Trump's pro-growth initiatives may help keep underlying sentiment firm.
Meanwhile, worries over the deepening US-Mexico crisis linger after Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto pulled out of a planned meeting next week with Trump amid a dispute over the US-Mexico border wall. In response, the Trump administration is floating the idea of imposing a 20 percent tax on all Mexican imports.
The issues may result in a trade war with which years of friendship and economic cooperation between both countries could be damaged. Automakers would be the hardest hit with all major companies having assembly plants in Mexico.
Asian markets are trading mostly higher, while some of the markets are closed for the Lunar New Year holidays. The weaker yen has boosted Japanese market for a third straight day as official data showed Japanese core consumer prices fell in December for the tenth straight month.
Japan's Nikkei 225 gained 0.16 percent to close at 19,433.33. Australia's benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index added 0.75 percent. Hang Seng index lost 0.06 percent.
The U.S. dollar is continuing its strength against the euro, pound as well as yen in the wake of optimism over U.S. growth and a spate of solid earnings reports.
Among commodities, U.S. West Texas Intermediate or WTI Crude closed higher on Thursday, but dropped 0.07 percent to $53.74 in early Friday trading.
Gold traded down 0.67 percent at $1,181.80 per ounce.
The major European markets also ended mixed on Thursday. France's CAC 40 lost 10.43 points or 0.21 percent and closed at 4,867.24, while Germany's DAX added 42.58 points or 0.36 percent to 11,848.63. London's FTSE 100 dropped 2.94 points or 0.041 percent to 7,161.49.
With the strength of biotechnology firm Actelion's $30 billion takeover deal with U.S. drug major Johnson & Johnson, the Swiss benchmark index gained 0.21 percent.
Banking giant UBS Group AG earlier Friday reported that its net profit in its fiscal 2016 nearly halved, despite strong performance of Wealth Management Americas, and Swiss Personal and Corporate business that achieved its best full-year results since 2008.
On Wall Street, stocks closed mixed on Thursday after the previous session's gains lifted the Dow above 20,000 for the first time.
The Dow added 32.4 points or 0.16 percent to close at 20,100.91, while the Nasdaq lost 1.16 points or 0.02 percent, and the S&P lost 1.69 points or 0.07 percent.
Chevron, Honeywell, Colgate-Palmolive and American Airlines are among the prominent U.S. companies that will come out with their quarterly earnings later today.
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