Asian shares are mostly lower, while Tokyos Nikkei jumps nearly 2 per cent
The new US tariffs on Japanese goods that took effect Thursday did not match an agreement between Washington and Tokyo on a 15 per cent level, and Japan's main trade envoy said the US side had agreed to correct the problem.
The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo rose 2.2 per cent but later trimmed some of its gains, adding 1.9 per cent to 41,820.48. Toyota Motor Corp. jumped 3.5 per cent and Honda Motor Co. was up 4 per cent. Automakers are among the manufacturers with the most at stake regarding exports to the US.
Elsewhere in Asia, most markets slipped following declines on Wall Street.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng declined 1 per cent to 24,841.32, while the Shanghai Composite index shed 0.3 per cent to 3,635.13.
South Korea's Kospi fell 0.6 per cent to 3,210,01. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.3 per cent to 8,807.10.
Taiwan's Taiex gained 0.1 per cent, and the Sensex in India was down 0.7 per cent.
'We're heading into a stretch where markets will punish certainty. The momentum winds are shapeshifters—what looks like a slam dunk on Monday can turn into a face plant by Friday," Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary.
Intel sank 3.1 per cent after Trump called for its CEO to resign, while accusing him of being 'highly CONFLICTED," though he gave no evidence.
But Apple rose 3.2 per cent after its CEO Tim Cook joined Trump at the White House on Wednesday to say it's increasing its investment in US manufacturing by an additional USD 100 billion over the next four years.
Computer chip makers with big investments or manufacturing capacity in the US surged higher after Trump ordered 100 per cent tariffs on imported semiconductors, but said companies with big US investments would be exempt. Shares in Advanced Micro Devices jumped 5.7 per cent, and Nvidia gained 0.8 per cent.
A worse-than-expected report on the US jobs market last week added to worries that President Donald Trump's tariffs are damaging the economy. But hopes for coming cuts to interest rates by the Federal Reserve and a torrent of stronger-than-expected profit reports from big US companies are helping to offset those concerns.
Lower interest rates can give the economy and investment prices a boost, though the downside is that they can also push inflation higher at a time when tariffs are also pushing prices up.
The Bank of England cut its main interest rate on Thursday in hopes of bolstering the sluggish UK economy.
In other dealings on Friday, US benchmark crude oil shed 15 cents to USD 63.73 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, lost 11 cents to USD 65.32 per barrel.
The US dollar rose to 147.32 Japanese yen from 147.13 yen. The euro slipped to USD 1.1658 from USD 1.1667. (AP) SKS GSP
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