Asia-Pacific markets traded mostly higher on Friday but investors remained cautious after U.S. lawmakers seemed unable to move forward with a coronavirus stimulus bill.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 gained 39.75 points, or 0.2%, to 23,289.36.
The Japanese yen changed hands at 106.74 against the U.S. dollar, strengthening from an earlier level around 107.03.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng lost 47.66 points, or 0.2%, to 25,183.01.
The session in Asia followed a mixed finish on Wall Street overnight where the S&P 500 failed once again to reach its record high from February. That was despite positive U.S. jobless claim data that came in well below what economists predicted, implying that the U.S. labour market was starting to improve.
Lawmakers in the United States appear to be at an impasse over the next round of coronavirus aid and an agreement on legislation and passage of a bill looks to be weeks away.
Australian markets jumped with most sectors recording gains. The heavily-weighted financials subindex wavered between gains and losses before advancing 0.2%. Shares of major banks in the country were mostly up but Commonwealth Bank shares declined 0.9%.
The major lender earlier this week reported full-year results for the financial year that ended in June. Its cash net profit after tax from continuing operations fell 11.3% from a year ago, largely from bad loan provisions due to COVID-19.
The Australian dollar reversed earlier losses and rose 0.06% to $0.7152.
CHINA
The CSI 300 regained 68.92 points, or 1.5%, to 4,704.63.
The relationship between the U.S. and China has considerably deteriorated in recent weeks after President Donald Trump issued executive orders against Chinese tech giant Tencent and TikTok-owner ByteDance. That followed U.S. sanctions on 11 individuals including Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam and retaliatory moves from Beijing, which imposed sanctions on 11 U.S. citizens that included legislators.
In other markets
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index subtracted 14.65 points, or 0.6%, to 2.581.32.
In Korea, the Kospi docked 30.04 points, or 1.2%, to 2,407.49
In Taiwan, the Taiex index moved higher 32.33 points, or 0.3%, to 12,795.46
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 dropped 48.68 points, or 0.4%, to 11,452.15
In Australia, the ASX 200 recovered 75.25 points, or 0.6%, to 6,126.25.
