CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - Asian stock markets, led by China, are higher on Friday following the positive cues overnight from Wall Street as optimism about progress in U.S.-China trade talks that are continuing in Beijing helped offset worries about a global economic slowdown. The ten-year U.S. bond yield also edged up overnight, rebounding from a fifteen-month low touched on Thursday.
The Australian market is advancing. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is up 23.10 points or 0.37 percent to 6,199.20, after touching a high of 6,206.90 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 20.00 points or 0.32 percent to 6,276.50. Australian stocks reversed early losses to finish higher on Thursday.
The major miners are higher. BHP Group is adding almost 1 percent, Rio Tinto is rising more than 1 percent and Fortescue Metals is gaining almost 3 percent.
In the tech space, Appen is adding almost 1 percent, Xero is advancing more than 1 percent and Afterpay Touch is rising more than 2 percent.
Among the big four banks, ANZ Banking, National Australia Bank and Westpac are up in a range of 0.2 percent to 0.9 percent, while Commonwealth bank is lower by 0.5 percent.
Gold miners are weak after gold prices fell for the third straight session overnight. Newcrest Mining is declining 2 percent and Evolution Mining is lower by more than 3 percent.
Oil stocks are also declining after crude oil prices edged lower overnight. Santos is down 0.6 percent, Woodside Petroleum is losing 0.4 percent and Oil Search is lower by 0.1 percent.
Shares of Bubs Australia are in a trading halt ahead of an announcement by the infant formula maker regarding a proposed acquisition and an associated proposed capital raising.
On the economic front, the Reserve Bank of Australia said that private sector credit in Australia was up 0.3 percent on month in February, exceeding expectations for a gain of 0.2 percent, which would have been unchanged from the January reading.
In the currency market, the Australian dollar is lower against the U.S dollar on Friday. The local currency was quoted at $0.7078, down from $0.7100 on Thursday.
The Japanese market is rising and the safe-haven yen weakened following the overnight gains on Wall Street. Investors also digested a batch of mixed local economic data.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is adding 131.76 points or 0.63 percent to 21,165.52, after touching a high of 21,267.25 in early trades. Japanese stocks closed notably lower on Thursday.
The major exporters are mixed despite a weaker yen. Panasonic is adding 0.6 percent and Canon is higher by 0.5 percent, while Mitsubishi Electric is declining almost 1 percent and Sony is down 0.6 percent.
In the tech sector, Advantest is edging down 0.1 percent and Tokyo Electron is lower by 0.4 percent. Among the major automakers, Toyota is up 0.2 percent, while Honda is edging down 0.1 percent.
In the banking space, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial are lower by 0.2 percent each. In the oil sector, Inpex is adding 0.6 percent and Japan Petroleum is rising more than 5 percent.
Among the other major gainers, Daiichi Sankyo is gaining almost 16 percent after the company entered into a potential multibillion-dollar collaboration with AstraZeneca plc to develop Daiichi's cancer drug trastuzumab deruxtecan.
Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma and Kyowa Hakko Kirin are rising more than 3 percent each.
On the flip side, Idemitsu Kosan is losing almost 4 percent, while Cyberagent, Pacific Metals and Dowa Holdings are lower by more than 2 percent each.
On the economic front, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said that industrial production in Japan perked 1.4 percent on month in February, in line with expectations following the 3.4 percent slide in January.
The Ministry also said that retail sales in Japan were up a seasonally adjusted 0.2 percent on month in February. That missed expectations for an increase of 1.0 percent following the 1.8 percent decline in January.
The unemployment rate in Japan came in at a seasonally adjusted 2.3 percent in February. That was beneath expectations for 2.5 percent, which would have been unchanged from the previous month. The job-to-applicant ratio was 1.63 - unchanged and as expected, while the participation rate came in at 61.4 percent.
Overall inflation in the Tokyo region was up 0.9 percent on year in March, in line with expectations and unchanged from the previous month. Core CPI, which excludes volatile food prices, rose an annual 1.1 percent - again matching forecasts and steady from the February reading.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the upper 110 yen-range on Friday.
Elsewhere in Asia, Shanghai is rising almost 2 percent, while South Korea, Singapore, New Zealand, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Taiwan are also higher. Bucking the trend, Indonesia is lower.
On Wall Street, stocks closed higher on Thursday in choppy trading on optimism about the ongoing U.S.-China trade talks after a senior U.S. administration official told Reuters that negotiators have made progress on the details of the written agreements to address U.S. concerns. Buying interest was relatively subdued, however, with traders also digesting a batch of largely disappointing economic data, including a Commerce Department showing GDP growth slowed by more than previously estimated in the fourth quarter.
The Dow climbed 91.87 points or 0.4 percent to 25,717.46, the Nasdaq rose 25.79 points or 0.3 percent to 7,669.17 and the S&P 500 advanced 10.07 points or 0.4 percent to 2,815.44.
The major European markets closed mixed on Thursday. While the French CAC 40 Index edged down by 0.1 percent, the German DAX Index crept up by 0.1 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index advanced by 0.6 percent.
Crude oil futures settled modestly lower on Thursday, as an unexpected jump in crude inventories in the U.S. and worries about energy demand due to slowing global economy weighed on prices. WTI crude for May delivery slipped $0.11 or 0.2 percent to $59.30 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
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