Asian Markets Advance As Wall St Declines Amid Tariff Stress

Tokyo: Asian shares mostly rose Thursday, despite the continued fretting over President Donald Trump's trade war, with all eyes on negotiations that just began between the administration and Japan.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 gained 0.7 per cent to 34,142.86 in morning trading. Honda stock price jumped 1.7 per cent after the Japanese automaker said it plans to move its production of the five-door Civic hybrid electric vehicles for the US market from Japan to the company's plant in Indiana. Honda Motor Co didn't say the move was in response to Trump's tariff policies but stressed it moves production to where there is demand.

Production of the US-bound five-door Civic HEV began at the Yorii plant outside Tokyo in February. So far 3,000 vehicles have been produced there for the US market. Trump joined Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick in the talks with the Japanese delegation in Washington. “Hopefully something can be worked out which is good (GREAT!) for Japan and the USA!” Trump wrote in a social media post ahead of the meeting.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.3 per cent to 7,781.00. South Korea's Kospi edged up 0.5 per cent to 2,459.46. Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 0.5 per cent to 21,165.70, while the Shanghai Composite slipped 0.2 per cent to 3,270.47. U.S. stocks fell Wednesday after Nvidia warned new restrictions on exports to China will chisel billions of dollars off its results.

The S&P 500 sank 2.2 per cent after falling as much as 3.3 per cent earlier. Such an amount would have vied for one of its worst losses in years before the historic, chaotic swings that have upended Wall Street in recent weeks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 699 points, or 1.7 per cent, and the Nasdaq composite sank a market-leading 3.1 per cent.