CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - Asian markets are trading mixed on Friday, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight, as traders are cautious and optimistic that the U.S. will sign up more deals with its remaining trading partners before President Donald Trump's Aug. 1 deadline. The UK, China, Vietnam, and Indonesia have already struck deals, while Canada, India, South Korea, and the EU are ramping up their efforts. Asian markets ended mostly higher on Thursday.
U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent reportedly said that the talks were 'going better than they had been,' and that progress was being made.
US President Donald Trump has now reworded his threat stating that imports into the US could face tariffs ranging from 15 to 50 per cent for countries that fail to sign a suitable deal past the August 1 deadline.
The Australian stock market is trading notably lower on Friday, extending the losses in the previous session, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is falling below the 8,700 level, with weakness in mining and financial stocks partially offset by gains in energy and technology stocks.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 37.40 points or 0.43 percent to 8,672.00, after hitting a low of 8,659.50 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 38.90 points or 0.43 percent to 8,940.50. Australian stocks closed modestly lower on Thursday.
Among major miners, BHP Group and Rio Tinto are losing more than 1 percent each, while Mineral Resources is edging down 0.4 percent and Fortescue is declining almost 2 percent.
Oil stocks are mostly higher. Santos is gaining almost 1 percent, Woodside Energy is advancing almost 2 percent and Beach energy is edging up 0.4 percent, while Origin Energy is edging down 0.5 percent.
Among tech stocks, Afterpay-owner Block is gaining almost 1 percent, Appen is edging up 0.4 percent and Zip is adding almost 2 percent, while WiseTech Global is losing almost 1 percent and Xero is edging down 0.1 percent.
Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank and Westpac are losing almost 1 percent each, while ANZ Banking is edging down 0.3 percent.
Gold miners are mostly lower. Evolution Mining, Resolute Mining and Northern Star Resources are losing almost 2 percent each, while Gold Road Resources is edging down 0.3 percent. Newmont is gaining almost 4 percent after its quarterly profit topped estimates by 23 percent.
In other news, shares in Icetana are soaring almost 14 percent after reporting a 13 percent growth in total quarterly revenues, generated by deployments of existing orders and contract renewals.
Shares in KMD Brands are jumping 6.5 percent after tapping Qantas executive Carla Webb-Sear to become its chief financial officer.
In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.659 on Friday.
Reversing some of the strong gains in the previous two sessions, the Japanese market is notably lower on Friday, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is falling well above the 41,600 level, with weakness across most sectors led by exporters, automakers and financial stocks.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index closed the morning session at 41,570.24, down 256.10 points or 0.61 percent, after hitting a low of 41,558.64 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply higher on Thursday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining more than 1 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging up 0.2 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is losing more than 1 percent and Honda is declining almost 2 percent.
In the tech space, Advantest is gaining more than 1 percent, while Tokyo Electron and Screen Holdings are edging down 0.3 to 0.5 percent each.
In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is declining more than 1 percent, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mizuho Financial are losing almost 1 percent each.
Among the major exporters, Sony is losing almost 1 percent, Canon is declining more than 4 percent, Mitsubishi Electric is down more than 1 percent and Panasonic is slipping 1.5 percent.
Among other major losers, Shin-Etsu Chemical and Mitsubishi Motors are plunging more than 9 percent each, while Yaskawa Electric is declining almost 5 percent. Sumco, Fanuc, Mazda Motor and Canon are losing more than 4 percent each. JFE Holdings and Subaru are down almost 4 percent each, while SMC and Isuzu Motors are slipping more than 3 percent each. Suzuki Motor is falling almost 3 percent.
Conversely, Otsuka Holdings, Nidec, Mitsui Mining & Smelting and Disco are gaining almost 3 percent each.
In other news, shares in Shin-Etsu Chemical are tumbling almost 10 percent after issuing a weaker profit outlook for fiscal 2025.
In economic news, overall consumer prices in the Tokyo region of Japan were up 2.9 percent on year in July, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said on Friday. That was shy of expectations for an increase of 3.0 percent on year and down from 3.1 percent in June. Core CPI, which excludes the volatile costs of food, also was up an annual 2.9 percent. That, too, was beneath expectations for 3.0 percent and down from 3.1 percent in the previous month.
The Bank of Japan said on Friday that producer prices in Japan were up 3.2 percent on year in June. That was in line with expectations and down from the upwardly revised 34 percent in May (originally 3.3 percent). On a monthly basis, producer prices slipped 0.1 percent for the second straight month. Excluding international transportation, producer prices were up 3.3 percent on year and down 0.2 percent on month. That follows the 3.6 percent yearly gain and the flat monthly reading in May.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 147 yen-range on Friday.
Elsewhere in Asia, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia are lower by between 0.2 and 0.7 percent each, while New Zealand, South Korea and Taiwan are higher by between 0.2 and 0.5 percent each. Indonesia is relatively flat.
On Wall Street, stocks turned in a mixed performance on Thursday after a strong session a day earlier, with the NASDAQ and the S&P 500 opening higher and hitting fresh record closing highs. Conversely, the Dow opened in the red and remained under water throughout the day, weighed by losses from heavyweight IBM, which may be facing an investigation into billing practices.
The Dow stumbled 316.38 points or 0.70 percent to finish at 44,693.91, while the NASDAQ gained 37.94 points or 0.18 percent to close at 21,057.96 and the S&P 500 rose 4.44 points or 0.07 percent to end at 6,363.35.
The major European markets also closed mixed on the day. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 climbed 0.85 percent, Germany's DAX closed up 0.23 percent and France's CAC 40 drifted down 0.41 percent.
Crude oil prices rose on Thursday after the U.S. Energy Information Administration said crude stockpiles declined more than expected last week. West Texas Intermediate crude for September was up $0.87 or 1.33 percent to $66.12 per barrel.
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