An electronic board shows Shanghai and Shenzhen stock indices as people walk on a pedestrian bridge at the Lujiazui financial district in Shanghai, China April 3, 2025.
Go Nakamura | Reuters
Asia-Pacific markets were set for a mixed open on Friday as investors weighed the state of the economy after the truce between U.S. President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.
Both parties reached a trade truce during a high-stakes meeting in South Korea on Thursday, de-escalating a dispute over rare earth elements that had threatened to push the world’s two largest economies into a full-blown trade war.
“Both sides appear to be maintaining leverage for future negotiations by keeping these measures as bargaining chips,” said JPMorgan Asset Management’s global market strategist, Chaoping Zhu.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 futures pointed to a stronger open, with the contract in Chicago at 51,635 and its counterpart in Osaka at 51,540, compared to the previous close of 51,325.61.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 started the day 0.45% higher.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was poised to fall. HSI futures were at 26,256, lower than the HSI’s last close of 26,282.69.
China is set to release its purchasing managers’ index for October later today, which provides a snapshot of factory and services activity that investors widely track.
Overnight in the U.S., all three major averages closed lower as investors digested a batch of Big Tech earnings. The S&P 500 dipped 0.99% to finish the day at 6,822.34, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.57% to close at 23,581.14. The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded down 109.88 points, or 0.23%, to 47,522.12.
— CNBC’s Sean Conlon and Sarah Min contributed to this report.
