Kazuhiro Nogi | AFP | Getty Images
Asia-Pacific markets were mostly lower on Friday, as cautious optimism over the Middle East conflict dampened sentiment, diverging from Wall Street’s record gains.
US President Donald Trump said on Friday that the Iran war “should be over pretty quickly,” repeating his rosy predictions about the end of the conflict.
Hours earlier, President Trump confirmed that Israel and Lebanon had agreed to a 10-day ceasefire starting at 5 p.m. ET. The speaker of Iran’s parliament said that an important condition for starting negotiations between the United States and Iran is for Israel to stop attacking Lebanon.
President Trump said Thursday that the next round of direct talks between the U.S. and Iran “could probably take place by the end of next week.” A two-week ceasefire between the United States and Iran is set to expire on April 21st.
West Texas Intermediate fell 1.27% to $93.49 a barrel as of 3:31 a.m. ET, and Brent crude oil fell 0.99% to $98.41 a barrel.
The Japan Bank for International Cooperation, Japan’s export credit agency, will set aside an investment limit of up to 600 billion yen ($3.8 billion) to help Asian countries secure energy supplies, Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama announced.
He added that fluctuations in the oil market are impacting the foreign exchange market.
Investors were also digesting comments from Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda on Friday, who said the Bank of Japan needs to take Japan’s low real interest rates into account when deciding on policy.
Japanese Nikkei Stock Average After hitting a new all-time high on Thursday, there was some profit-taking, and the stock ended Friday’s session down 1.75% at 58,475.90. Topix fell 1.41% to 3,760.81.
South Korea’s Kospi traded volatilely, falling 0.55% to 6,191.92. The small-cap Kosdaq rose 0.61% to 1,170.04. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell slightly.
Mainland China’s CSI300 index traded 0.17% lower, while Hong Kong’s CSI300 index traded 0.17% lower. Hang Seng Index The stock fell 1.01% in the last hour of trading on Friday. Shares in Hangzhou-based developer Manycore Tech tripled in its debut on the Hong Kong exchange, opening at HK$20.7 compared to its public price of HK$7.62 for a $156 million listing. The closing price was HK$18.65.
India’s Nifty 50 rose 0.34%.
