Manila, Oct 24 (AP) Asian shares were mostly higher Friday after the White House confirmed plans for President Donald Trump to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping next week.
The confirmation reduced some of the uncertainty surrounding trade tensions between the two biggest economies, though prospects for a significant trade deal remain unclear.
Chinese benchmarks also gained after the ruling Communist Party wrapped up an important planning meeting without any major policy changes.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index gained 0.6% to 26,122.10, while the Shanghai Composite index added 0.4% to 3,938.98.
Japan's Nikkei 225 rebounded Friday from the previous day's losses, adding nearly 1.5% to 49,380.25. Tech shares were among gainers as sentiment was boosted by the White House confirmation of Trump's meeting with Xi.
Data released Friday showed Japan's core inflation rate rose to 2.9% in September from 2.7% in August. Despite price pressures, the Bank of Japan is widely expected to keep interest rates unchanged at a meeting next week: newly elected Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has expressed a preference to keep rates low.
In Seoul, the Kospi surged 2.3% to 3,935.75, a fresh record, as gains on Wall Street and news of the Trump-Xi summit lifted investor sentiment and eased trade worries.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 slipped less than 0.1% to 9,027.00 after preliminary data showed Australia's factory activity contracted to 49.7 in October from 51.4 in September.
India's BSE Sensex was nearly unchanged, while Taiwan's stock market was closed for a holiday.
US stocks rose to the cusp of their records on Thursday, as oil prices jumped after President Donald Trump announced “massive” new sanctions on Russia's crude industry.
On Wall Street on Thursday, the S&P 500 climbed 0.6% to 6,738.44, within 0.2% of its all-time high set earlier this month.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.3% to 46,734.61, just below its own record set earlier this week. The Nasdaq composite rose 0.9% to 22,941.80.
Companies in the oil and gas business led the way, including gains of 1.1% for Exxon Mobil, 3.1% for ConocoPhillips and 3.4% for Diamondback Energy. They rose with prices for crude, which leaped roughly 5.5% after Trump announced the sanctions against Russian oil giants Rosneft and Lukoil.
The hope is to convince Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, to end the brutal war with Ukraine, and sanctions could constrict the global flow of oil.
The jumps helped oil prices recover some of their sharp recent losses, taken because of expectations for supplies of crude in inventories to remain plentiful. Oil prices are still down more than 10% for the year so far, and early Friday, they slipped further. US benchmark crude lost 22 cents to $61.57 per barrel, while Brent crude was down 21 cents at $65.78.
Strong profit reports from several big US companies helped push benchmarks higher.
Chemicals maker Dow jumped 12.9%, and Las Vegas Sands rallied 12.4% after both delivered stronger earnings than analysts expected. Tesla shook off an early loss to climb 2.3% after reporting a weaker profit but stronger revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected.
The pressure is on companies broadly to deliver solid growth in profits. That would counter criticism that their stock prices shot too high following a 35% romp for the S&P 500 from a low in April.
In other dealings early Friday, the price of gold slipped 0.4% to $4,129.30 an ounce. On Thursday it had climbed 2% to $4,145.60 per ounce.
The US dollar rose to 152.96 Japanese yen from 152.60. The euro slid to $1.1608 from $1.1618.
This report includes content sourced from Press Trust of India (PTI), edited for clarity and context.
