Asia report: Markets mixed as Trump meets Xi

Markets in Asia finished mixed after a turbulent session on Friday, with the Japanese benchmark falling to a four-month low early on and oil prices rocketing ahead, after the US sent dozens of cruise missiles towards a Syrian airfield.

The Nikkei 225 finished up 0.36% at 18,664.63, having earlier reached a four month low of 18,517.43 after news of the missile strike on Syria broke to markets.

The yen was stronger on the greenback once again, and was last ahead 0.13% at JPY 110.67.

On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite added 0.18% to 3,287.02, as traders in the People’s Republic watched their President Xi Jinping visit his US counterpart Trump at his Mar-a-Lago family resort in Florida, in what was set to be a tense meeting.

President Xi arrived in West Palm Beach early on Friday, with the talks widely expected to focus on the US trade deficit - which Trump blames China directly for - and the constant belligerence from North Korea.

Having spoke about how the meeting would be difficult earlier in the week, Trump told media before a dinner with Xi that he thought he would have a “very, very great relationship” with him.

South Korea’s Kospi was down 0.05% at 2,151.73, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index finished down 0.03% at 24,267.30.

In Seoul, shares in Samsung Electronics finished 0.58% lower after the company issued first quarter guidance, indicating it expected profits to rist almost 50% year-on-year.

On the political front, the US fired 59 tomahawks from naval destroyers in the Mediterranean Sea, at an airfield near Homs in Syria, where they reportedly hit aircraft and vital infrastructure.

The attack occurred as President Donald Trump was hosting his Chinese counterpart..

In a statement after the attack, Trump said he called for the military action in response to a chemical attack earlier this week in the rebel-held northern Syria.

That attack was apparently perpetrated by Syrian regime forces - something the US stood by as a fact, though no concrete evidence has been presented to that effect yet.

Oil prices soared in the wake of the Syrian airstrike, with Brent crude last

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.11% at 5,862.47, while over the Tasman Sea in New Zealand the S&P/NZX 50 fell 0.63% to 7,243.76.

Both of the down under dollars were weaker against the greenback, with the Kiwi last retreating 0.1% to NZD 1.4361, and the Aussie off 0.29% to AUD 1.3292.