Asia report: Markets rise as US and China move closer to deal

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 was up 0.73% at 21,870.56, as the yen weakened 0.24% against the dollar to last trade at JPY 111.93.

Apparel giant Fast Retailing, which owns the Uniqlo brand, was up 7.89%, while the broader Topix index slipped 0.07% to end the day at 1,605.40 in Tokyo.

On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite slipped 0.04% at 3,188.63, and the smaller, technology-heavy Shenzhen Composite was in the red by 0.11% at 1,738.52.

Stocks in China were down despite official trade figures for March coming in well above expectations.

Dollar-denominated exports were up 14.2% year-on-year, well above Reuters-polled expectations for an improvement of 7.3%.

The country’s trade surplus with the US came in at $20.5bn, widening from $14.72bn in February, while dollar-denominated imports fell 7.6%, missing expectations for a 1.3% decline.

South Korea’s Kospi was 0.41% higher at 2,233.45, while the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong was up 0.24% at 29,909.76.

Technology giant Samsung Electronics was ahead 1.3% in Seoul.

Sentiment on the US-China trade front was relatively buoyant during the session, after the Wall Street Journal reported overnight that Beijing was willing to open up its cloud computing industry to foreign firms.

That came after US Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin said earlier in the week that Washington and Beijing had “pretty much agreed on an enforcement mechanism” for when an agreement is reached.

“We are hopeful we can do this quickly, but we are not going to set an arbitrary deadline,” he said.

“If we can complete this agreement, this will be the most significant changes to the economic relationship between the US and China in really the last 40 years.”

Oil prices were higher as the region entered the weekend, with Brent crude last up 1.27% at $71.74 per barrel, and West Texas Intermediate rising 1.58% to $64.60.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 was ahead 0.85% at 6,251.30, as almost all subindices posted gains on the Sydney benchmark.

Across the Tasman Sea, New Zealand’s S&P/NZX 50 was ahead 0.02% at 9,768.33, as the retirement property sector continued its recovery.

Metlifecare, Ryman Healthcare and Summerset were all in the green, rising 2.2%, 0.8% and 1.8% respectively.

Both of the down under dollars were stronger on the greenback, with the Aussie last ahead 0.76% at AUD 1.3930, and the Kiwi advancing 0.46% to NZD 1.4795.