Mount Fuji and buildings in the Shinjuku district are reflected on a table at an observation deck in Tokyo, Japan, on December 24, 2013.
Kiyoshi Ota | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Asia-Pacific markets were set to open mixed Friday after U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday formalizing a lower Japanese auto import tariff of 15%, down from 27.5%.
The order also confirms the agreement for $550 billion of Japanese investments in U.S. projects.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 was set to open higher, with the futures contract in Chicago at 42,945, while its counterpart in Osaka last traded at 42,910, against the index’s last close of 42,580. 27.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was on course to open lower, with the futures contract at 25,021, compared with its Thursday close at 25,058.51.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was set to open higher, with the futures contract at 8,866 against the index’s last close at 8,826.5.
Malaysian and Indonesian markets were closed for a holiday.
U.S. equity futures were little changed ahead of the August jobs report due out Friday stateside.
Overnight stateside, all three key benchmarks rose on hopes of a favorable jobs report that supports a Federal Reserve rate cut chance.
The broad market S&P 500 finished up 0.83% at 6,502.08, while the Nasdaq Composite settled up 0.98% at 21,707.69. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 350.06 points, or 0.77%, at 45,621.29. It was S&P 500′s 21st record close so far this year.
— CNBC’s Sean Conlon and Sarah Min contributed to this report.
