Asian stocks were mostly higher in early trading Friday after gains on Wall Street, but investors continued to watch for news about U.S.-China trade friction.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225
NIK, +0.43%
added 0.3%, and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200
XJO, +0.39%
gained 0.5% in early trading. South Korea’s Kospi
SEU, +0.30%
rose 0.1%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng
HSI, +0.27%
inched up 0.2%, while the Shanghai
SHCOMP, +0.08%
as also up less than 0.1%. Shares were also higher in Indonesia
JAKIDX, -0.29%
and Taiwan
Y9999, +0.82%
.
Tech stocks, which took the brunt of losses Thursday, recovered. Samsung
005930, +1.60%
gained 1%, while Tencent
0700, +2.96%
bounced nearly 3% and Largan Precision
3008, +2.97%
jumped 3.4%.
“Clouded with much uncertainty, markets will likely remain jittery and may struggle to hold on to the gains,” said Jayden Loh, a Trader at IG in Singapore.
On Thursday, the S&P 500 index
SPX, -0.15%
fell 4.11 points, or 0.2%, to 2,695.95. The benchmark index had been down as much as 2.9%. The Dow
DJIA, -0.32%
dropped 79.40 points, or 0.3%, to 24,947.67. The average briefly slumped as much as 784 points. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite
COMP, +0.42%
reversed an early loss to finish with a gain, adding 29.83 points, or 0.4%, to 7,188.26.
U.S. benchmark crude
CLF9, -0.64%
fell 24 cents to $51.25 a barrel. It dropped 2.6% to $51.49 a barrel in New York. Brent crude
LCOG9, -0.85%
, used to price international oils, dipped 39 cents to $59.67.
After falling earlier, the dollar
USDJPY, +0.17%
was last at 112.82 yen from 112.80 yen late Thursday.
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Source : MTV
