CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - Asian stock markets are higher on Friday, extending gains from the previous session following the mostly positive cues overnight from Wall Street and despite worries about U.S.-China trade talks.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told CNBC the U.S. is 'miles and miles' from a trade deal with China. The comments from Ross come ahead of Chinese Vice Premier Liu He's trip to Washington next week for the next round of trade negotiations. Tech stocks are among the major gainers.
The Australian market is extending gains from the previous session, with stocks rising across the board.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is adding 24.50 points or 0.42 percent to 5,890.20, off a high of 5,892.30 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 23.70 points or 0.40 percent to 5,954.20. Australian stocks closed modestly higher on Thursday.
The major miners are higher. BHP Group is advancing almost 1 percent, while Rio Tinto and Fortescue Metals are rising 0.7 percent each.
Gold miners are rising, even as gold prices declined overnight. Evolution Mining is rising more than 2 percent and Newcrest Mining is advancing more than 1 percent.
Oil stocks are up after crude oil prices rose 1 percent overnight. Oil Search and Santos are advancing more than 1 percent each, while Woodside Petroleum is adding almost 1 percent.
The big four banks are also mostly higher. ANZ Banking, National Australia Bank and Westpac are higher in a range of 0.5 percent to 0.7 percent, while Commonwealth Bank is edging down 0.1 percent.
Meanwhile, AMP now projects a 96 percent fall in full-year profit and said it will slash its final dividend drastically as it will set aside another A$200 million to cover the cost of customer remediation related to issues heard at the banking royal commission. The wealth manager's shares are losing more than 6 percent.
Shares of ResMed are falling more than 10 percent after the sleep device maker's second-quarter profit surged from last year, but revenues missed market expectations.
In the currency market, the Australian dollar is lower against the U.S. dollar on Friday. The local currency was quoted at $0.7080, down from $0.7105 on Thursday.
The Japanese market is rising. Tech stocks and exporters are among the major gainers.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is adding 181.37 points or 0.88 percent to 20,756.00, after touching a high of 20,777.21 in early trades. Japanese shares turned in a mixed performance on Thursday.
The major exporters are mostly higher on a flat yen. Mitsubishi Electric is adding 0.2 percent, Sony is up 0.7 percent and Canon is higher by almost 1 percent, while Panasonic is down 0.6 percent.
In the tech sector, Advantest and Tokyo Electron are rising more than 3 percent each. Among the major automakers, Honda is advancing more than 1 percent and Toyota is higher by almost 1 percent.
In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is edging up 0.1 percent and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is higher by 0.6 percent.
In the oil space, Japan Petroleum is down 0.4 percent, while Inpex is rising almost 2 percent after crude oil prices advanced 1 percent overnight.
Among the other major gainers, Taiyo Yuden is gaining 8 percent and Sumco Corp. is higher by more than 7 percent. Asahi Kasei and Minebea Mitsumi are rising more than 4 percent each.
On the flip side, Chughai Pharmaceutical, Astellas Pharma and Takara Holdings are lower by more than 2 percent each.
On the economic front, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said that overall consumer prices in the Tokyo region were up 0.4 percent on year in January. That was unchanged from the December reading, although it exceeded expectations for an increase of 0.2 percent.
Core consumer prices, which exclude food prices, climbed an annual 1.1 percent. That beat expectations for 0.9 percent, which would have been unchanged from the previous month.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the upper 109 yen-range on Friday.
Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong is rising more than 1 percent, while South Korea and Taiwan are adding almost 1 percent each. Shanghai, Singapore, New Zealand, Indonesia and Malaysia are also higher.
On Wall Street, stocks closed mixed on Thursday in a volatile session after Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told CNBC the U.S. is 'miles and miles' from a trade deal with China. Concerns about a U.S.-China trade deal partly offset positive sentiment generated by a report from the Labor Department showing initial jobless claims fell to their lowest level in almost fifty years in the week ended January 19.
While the Dow edged down 22.38 points or 0.1 percent to 24,553.24, the Nasdaq advanced 47.69 points or 0.7 percent to 7,073.46 and the S&P 500 inched up 3.63 points or 0.1 percent to 2,642.33.
The major European markets also turned in a mixed performance on Thursday. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index fell by 0.4 percent, the German DAX Index and the French CAC 40 Index climbed by 0.5 percent and 0.7 percent, respectively.
Crude oil futures ended higher on Thursday, driven by reports the U.S. may impose sanctions on Venezuela's crude exports. WTI crude oil for March delivery climbed $0.51 or about 1 percent to $53.13 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
© 2019 AFX News
