Asian Markets Trade Mixed

(RTTNews) - Asian stock markets are trading mixed on Friday, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, as traders remain optimistic of interest rate cuts with US Fed officials signalling the possibility of two rate cuts by the end of the year after the Fed recently leave interest rates unchanged. Lingering concerns over tariffs and the health of the global economy continue to hurt market sentiment. Asian markets ended mixed on Thursday.

Fed officials also lowered their projections for GDP growth in 2025 and raised their forecasts for consumer price growth this year. Fed Chair Jerome Powell said during his post-meeting press conference that a "good part" of the higher inflation forecast is due to tariffs.

The Australian stock market is modestly higher on Friday, extending the gains in the previous session, despite the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is moving well above the 7,900 level, with gains in energy and financial stocks as well as mixed performance at most other sectors.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 30.30 points or 0.38 percent to 7,949.20, after hitting a low of 7,905.10 and a high of 7,950.40 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 28.00 points or 0.34 percent to 8,176.90. Australian stocks closed significantly higher on Thursday.

Among major miners, BHP Group and Rio Tinto are gaining more than 1 percent each, while Fortescue Metals is edging up 0.1 percent. Mineral Resources is losing almost 1 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Woodside Energy, Beach energy and Santos are edging up 0.1 to 0.3 percent each, while Origin Energy is up almost 1 percent.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay-owner Block is losing more than 1 percent and Xero is edging down 0.3 percent, while Appen and WiseTech Global are declining almost 2 percent each. Zip is gaining almost 1 percent.

Among the big four banks, Westpac, National Australia Bank and ANZ Banking are edging up 0.5 percent each. Commonwealth Bank is flat. Gold miners are mixed. Evolution Mining is gaining almost 1 percent and Newmont is edging up 0.3 percent, while Northern Star Resources is edging down 0.2 percent, Gold Road Resources is losing more than 1 percent and Resolute Mining is down almost 1 percent.

In other news, shares in Paladin Energy are tumbling almost 5 percent after temporarily closing its Langer Heinrich Mine in Namibia, owing to heavy rains impacting access to the site.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.633 on Friday.

Reversing the losses in the previous two sessions, the Japanese market is notably higher in post-holiday trade on Friday, despite the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is moving well above the 37,900 level, with gains is index heavyweights, financial and some technology stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index closed the morning session at 37,890.42, up 138.54 points or 0.37 percent, after touching a high of 37,947.36 earlier. Japanese shares ended modestly lower on Wednesday ahead of the holiday on Thursday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining more than 2 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is adding almost 1 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is edging down 0.1 percent, while Honda is adding almost 1 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is losing almost 1 percent, while Screen Holdings and Tokyo Electron are gaining almost 1 percent each.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is gaining more than 3 percent, Mizuho Financial is adding almost 3 percent and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is advancing almost 4 percent.

Among the major exporters, Sony is gaining almost 3 percent and Panasonic is advancing almost 2 percent, while Canon is losing almost 1 percent and Mitsubishi Electric is down more than 1 percent.

Among other major gainers, Mercari is surging more than 6 percent, while Mitsubishi Motors and BANDAI NAMCO are gaining almost 5 percent each. Sumitomo Electric Industries, Daiichi Sankyo and Yaskawa Electric are adding more than 3 percent each, while Fujikura is up almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Recruit Holdings is losing almost 5 percent, Sumco is declining more than 4 percent, Kawasaki Heavy Industries is slipping almost 4 percent and Japan Steel Works is down almost 3 percent.

In economic news, Japan's core inflation slowed to 3 percent in February from 3.2 percent in January, but still exceeded forecasts of 2.9 percent. This is the second consecutive month inflation came in above expectations, strengthening the case for further interest rate hikes.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 149 yen-range on Friday.

Elsewhere in Asia, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia and Taiwan are lower by between 0.2 and 1.2 percent each, while New Zealand, South Korea and Malaysia are higher by between 0.2 and 1.2 percent each.

On Wall Street, stocks showed a lack of direction over the course of the trading session on Thursday after recovering from an initial move to the downside. The major averages swung back and forth across the unchanged line before eventually closing modestly lower.

The Nasdaq fell 59.16 points or 0.3 percent to 17,691.63 and the S&P 500 dipped 12.40 points or 0.2 percent to 5,662.89, while the narrower Dow posted an even more modest loss, edging down 11.31 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 41,953.32.

The major European markets also moved to the downside on the day. While the German DAX Index tumbled 1.2 percent, the French CAC 40 Index slumped by 1.0 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index edged down by 0.1 percent.

Crude oil prices climbed higher on Thursday after the U.S. slapped fresh sanctions on Iran. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April closed higher by $1.10 or about 1.6 percent at $68.26 a barrel on the expiration day.