This is CNBC’s live blog covering Asia-Pacific markets.
Asia-Pacific markets rose after Wall Street gained for a third straight day as tech stocks rallied, with investors assessing the trade climate as the U.S. tones down tariff rhetoric.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 0.91% and the Topix added 0.88%. South Korea’s Kospi climbed 1.03% while the small-cap Kosdaq rose 0.6% as South Korea reportedly inches closer to striking a trade deal with the U.S.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index opened 0.75% higher while mainland China’s CSI 300 inched up 0.3%.
Australian markets are closed for a holiday.
Futures linked to the S&P 500 were 0.3% higher, while Nasdaq-100 futures gained 0.4%. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average hovered around the flatline.
Overnight stateside, the three major averages closed higher thanks to strong gains in megacap tech names, as investors continued to look for signs of progress on the global trade front.
The S&P 500 ended up 2.03% at 5,484.77, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite added 2.74% to finish at 17,166.04. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lagged the other two indexes, weighed down by a 6.6% drop in IBM, but still added 486.83 points, or 1.23%, at 40,093.40.
Shares of Nvidia, Meta, Amazon, Tesla and Microsoft all closed higher, propelling the major averages to their third day of gains in a row
“Investors are becoming more comfortable with the uncertainties of tariffs as earnings roll in,” said Louis Navellier, chairman and founder of Navellier & Associates. “The market seems to be positioning itself for a near-term reduction in the current sky-high China tariffs,” he added.
— CNBC’s Lisa Kailai Han and Pia Singh contributed to this report.
South Korea shipbuilding stocks climb after U.S. and South Korea agree to seek trade package
Shares of South Korea’s shipbuilders rose after the Asian country and the U.S. have agreed to work on a trade package.
HD Hyundai Heavy Industries was up 5.32% after earlier surging over 7% to a record high. Hanhwa Ocean, which has a shipyard in Philadelphia, rose 6.06%, while HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering climbed more than 4%.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent described Thursday’s meeting between the U.S. and South Korea as “very successful.”
According to a South Korean news outlet Newsis, a Korean minister said that a consensus on shipbuilding cooperation between South Korea and the U.S. has been reached.
—Lee Ying Shan
Japan markets climb after PM Ishiba announces emergency measures for tariffs
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 and Topix led gains in Asian markets on Friday, climbing 1.73% and 1.43% respectively.
This follows Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s unveiling of a package of emergency economic measures to counter the adverse effects of U.S. President Donald Trump’s higher tariffs, according to Japanese media outlet Kyodo News.
Kyodo said the package included measures such as corporate financing support and ways to increase domestic consumption. The government also pledged to reduce fuel prices and increase subsidies for energy bills.
Separately, Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda reportedly said on Thursday that the BOJ will continue to raise interest rates if underlying inflation approaches its 2% inflation target.
The BOJ will also see how the potential economic fallout from higher U.S. tariffs could affect the likelihood of achieving its price goals, which are a prerequisite for further interest rate hikes.
— Lim Hui Jie
Tokyo core CPI in April breaches 3% for the first time since 2023
Tokyo’s core CPI rose 3.4% in April from a year earlier, marking the first time since 2023 that its core CPI, which strips out volatile fresh food costs, rose over 3%.
The reading outpaced Reuters’ expectations of a 3.2% climb, and compares against 2.4% in March.
Just last week, Japan’s inflation rate in January climbed to 4%, hitting its highest level since January 2023.
The figures were released just before the Bank of Japan’s policy meeting scheduled for April 30 to May 1.
—Lee Ying Shan
Stocks close higher for third day in a row
Stocks rallied on Thursday, notching their third day of gains in a row.
The S&P 500 rallied 2.03%, closing at 5,484.77. The Nasdaq Composite rose 2.74% to settle at 17,166.04. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 486.83 points, or 1.23%, finishing at 40,093.40.
— Lisa Kailai Han
U.S. markets are sliding toward a recessionary regime, UBS says
In a Thursday note, UBS strategist Sean Simonds wrote that the U.S. is increasingly approaching a recessionary regime.
“Markets pricing rapidly in a ‘recessionary’ direction,” he wrote.
Simonds added that tariff-sensitive stocks are being “aggressively repriced” and are now down 20% relative to the market.
Meanwhile, consumer discretionary stocks could take an even bigger hit going forward.
“Consumer discretionary stocks are typically sensitive to growth slowdowns/recessions and have underperformed recently as the market pushes quickly in this direction. Earnings expectations have also been rapidly revised lower and hedge fund positioning has adjusted significantly,” Simonds said. “Our models suggest more consumer discretionary downside momentum (eg. Kohls) and relative outperformance coming from communication services and utilities (eg. Live Nation and Ameren).”
— Lisa Kailai Han
IMF cuts Asia growth forecast
The International Monetary Fund lowered its Asia economic growth forecast to 3.9% in 2025 from a 4.6% forecast made last year.
Uncertainty surrounding trade policy is a major headwind for the region, Krishna Srinivasan, the IMF’s Asia and Pacific Department director, told reporters Thursday.
However, Srinivasan noted the central banks in the region have some scope to ease monetary policy that can help protect against some of the damage from trade policy.
— Hakyung Kim
