Stocks in Asia rose on Thursday as investor hopes rose on positive developments on the U.S.-China trade front.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index ticked higher 161.85 points, or 0.8%, to 21,759.61.
Shares of Yahoo Japan jumped 2.4% as the company offered to buy the majority of online clothing retailer Zozo. For its part, Zozo saw its stock surge 13.4%.
The Japanese yen traded at 107.96 against the U.S. dollar after weakening from levels around 106.8 earlier this week.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index let go of 71.43 points, or 0.3%, to 27,087.63
Shares of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) fell more than 3% following its bid for the London Stock Exchange Group (LSE).
The HKEX said Wednesday a proposal to the board of LSE had been made to “combine the two companies.”
Meanwhile, Anheuser-Busch InBev said on Thursday it is continuing to explore its Budweiser initial public offering in Hong Kong, two months after saying it would not proceed with the planned listing.
Australian markets poked ahead. The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.6882 after seeing an earlier low of $0.6857.
In other markets
Markets in Korea were shuttered for holiday.
In Shanghai, the CSI 300 hiked 42.28 points, or 1.1%, to 3,972.38
In Taiwan, the Taiex index gained 37.2 points, or 0.3%, to 10,827.55
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index docked 9.56 points, or 0.3%, to 3,194.96
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 dropped 19.82 points, or 0.2%, to 10,905.06
In Australia, the ASX 200 added 16.83 points, or 0.3%, to 6,654.87
