Asian Markets Trade Mostly Higher

(RTTNews) - Asian stock markets are trading mostly higher on Monday, following the mixed cues from Wall Street on Friday, amid optimism about a potential U.S.-China trade deal after U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confirmed that a trade deal has been struck with China following the weekend talks in Switzerland, with no more details offered. Asian markets closed mostly higher on Friday.

There are reports the U.S. is hoping to slash China tariffs to below 60 percent from the current level of at least 145 percent. However, US President Donald Trump said in a post on Truth Social that a higher "80% Tariff on China seems right," partly offsetting the positive sentiment.

Trump had earlier said many trade deals are "in the hopper," traders remain cautious even after announcement of the framework of a U.S.-U.K. trade deal.

The Australian stock market is notably higher on Monday, extending the gains in the previous three sessions, following the mixed cues from Wall Street on Friday. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index is staying well above the 8,200.00 level, with gains across most sectors led by iron ore miners and energy stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 21.90 points or 0.27 percent to 8,253.10, after touching a high of 8,279.30 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 21.60 points or 0.26 percent to 8,484.20. Australian stocks closed notably higher on Friday.

Among the major miners, BHP Group is gaining almost 2 percent, Fortescue Metals is edging up 0.4 percent, Rio Tinto is adding almost 1 percent and Mineral Resources is advancing almost 3 percent. Oil stocks are mostly higher. Woodside Energy is advancing 1.5 percent, Santos is adding more than 2 percent, Beach energy is rising more than 3 percent and Origin Energy is gaining more than 1 percent.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is gaining almost 3 percent and WiseTech Global is adding almost 1 percent. Xero and Zip are losing more than 1 percent each, while Appen is down almost 1 percent.

Gold miners are mostly lower. Evolution Mining is losing almost 2 percent, Resolute Mining declining more than 1 percent, Northern Star Resources is edging down 0.5 percent and Newmont is down more than 2 percent, while Gold Road Resources is gaining almost 1 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank and Westpac are gaining almost 1 percent each, while ANZ Banking is adding more than 1 percent. National Australia Bank is losing more than 2 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.642 on Monday.

The Japanese stock market is trading slightly higher on Monday, extending the gains in the previous two sessions, following the mixed cues from Wall Street on Friday, with the Nikkei 225 moving above the 37,500 level, with gains in index heavyweights, technology and financial stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index closed the morning session at 37,519.80, up 16.47 points or 0.04 percent, after touching a high of 37,726.44 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply higher on Friday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining almost 2 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is adding more than 1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is edging down 0.2 percent, while Toyota is edging up 0.2 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is gaining more than 4 percent and Tokyo Electron is gaining almost 1 percent while Screen Holdings is edging down 0.2 percent.

In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is gaining more than 1 percent, while Mizuho Financial and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial are adding almost 1 percent each.

The major exporters are mixed. Panasonic and Mitsubishi Electric are edging down 0.1 to 0.4 percent each, while Sony and Canon are edging up 0.5 percent each.

Among the other major gainers, Tokyu Fudosan is surging almost 5 percent and Kawasaki Heavy Industries is gaining more than 4 percent, while Taiyo Yuden, Renesas Electronics and Isetan Mitsukoshi are adding more than 3 percent each. Idemitsu Kosan, Furukawa Electric, Yaskawa Electric and Disco are advancing almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, DeNA is plummeting more than 14 percent and Chugai Pharmaceutical is sliding more than 6 percent, while Daiichi Sankyo, Nippon Steel and Meiji Holdings is losing more than 5 percent each. Takeda Pharmaceutical is down 4.5 percent, while Otsuka Holdings and NH Foods are slipping almost 4 percent. Nitori Holdings, Astellas Pharma, Eisai and Recruit Holdings are declining almost 3 percent each.

In economic news, the value of overall bank lending in Japan slowed for the second straight month, rising just 2.4 percent on year to 636.545 trillion yen, the Bank of Japan said on Monday. That's down from 2.8 percent in March and 3.0 percent in February.

Excluding trusts, bank lending was up an annual 2.6 percent to 558.171 trillion yen, down from 3.0 percent in the previous month. Lending from trusts rose 1.3 percent on year to 78.373 trillion yen, while lending from foreign banks surged an annual 21.0 percent to 5.803 trillion yen.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 145 yen-range on Monday.

Elsewhere in Asia, New Zealand, China, Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan are higher by between 0.6 and 1.4 percent each. Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia are closed for Wesak Day.

On Wall Street, stocks showed a lack of direction over the course of the trading session on Friday after failing to sustain an initial move to the upside. The major averages spent much of the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line before eventually closing narrowly mixed.

While the Nasdaq crept up 0.78 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 17,928.92, the S&P 500 edged down 4.03 points or 0.1 percent to 5,659.91 and the Dow dipped 119.07 points or 0.3 percent to 41,249.38.

Meanwhile, the major European have all moved to the upside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index rose by 0.2 percent, the German DAX Index and the French CAC 40 Index both climbed by 0.6 percent.

Crude oil prices moved sharply higher on Friday, extending gains in the previous session amid optimism about a potential U.S.-China trade deal. West Texas Intermediate crude for June delivery crude for June delivery jumped $1.11 or 1.9 percent to $61.02 a barrel.