Japanese Stocks’ 2.55% Gains Led Asian Market on Friday

TOKYO, Japan – Japanese stocks surged on Friday, leading the gains in the Asian stock market, as market players await on the signing of the US-China trade agreement.

Following the news that both the governments from two of the largest economies in the world have agreed to phase one of the trade deal, although still in principle, boosted most of the major stocks in Asia on Friday.

Japanese stocks led the gains for the day, as it recorded around a 2.5% increase for the benchmark Nikkei 225 index, going up towards 24,023.10 for the day. The gain came after the heavyweight Fast Retailing tracked around 4.39% advance.

The Topix index also ended the trading week with a 1.59% rise, ending at 1,739.98.

Meanwhile, the tankan survey by the Bank of Japan was released on Friday, which showed a decline in the business confidence levels towards the large manufacturers in the country.

Elsewhere in Asia, The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong also tracked 2.22% gains for the day, boosted by the 2.5% advance for both the HSBC and Tencent shares.

Stocks in mainland China also advanced for the day, with the Shanghai Composite recording a 1.78% gains to 2,967.68. the Shenzhen Component also rose 1.71% to around 10,004.62, while the Shenzhen Composite was up by 1.48% to 1,660.55.

The Kospi index in South Korea also tracked massive gains for the day of about 1.54% to around 2,170.25, boosted by the 5.4% advance on the chipmaker SK Hynix.

The Australian stock market also advanced for the day, with the S&P/ASX 200 tracked around 0.46% for the day, going up to 6,739.70, boosted by the 1.94% advance in the shares of BHP.

Overall, a 1.49% increased was recorded for the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index.

Most of the advance in the Asian stock market followed the increasing optimism on the US-China trade negotiations. The US government, based on reports on Thursday, has decided to scrap off the new tariff hike on Chinese goods, which was previously scheduled to take effect on Sunday.

The US government has also offered to cut the existing duties on Chinese products by around 50%, valuing around $360 billion.

Stateside, stocks were optimistic on Friday amid the increasing trade optimism. The three of the major indexes in the US were trading with optimistic gains, setting towards new record highs.

According to BK Asset Management’s managing director of foreign exchange strategy, Kathy Lien, it is important for the market to realize that despite the increasing optimism on the trade deal, there wasn’t any official announcement yet.