Asian stocks were set to rise at the open on Friday after U.S. shares mostly shrugged off trade jitters, with the tech sector leading gains as Apple became the first publicly traded U.S. company to hit a market cap of $1 trillion.
Futures tipped shares to rise in Japan and Australia: Nikkei futures traded in Chicago were up 0.46 percent compared to the index’s last close and Australian SPI futures were higher by 0.34 percent at the end of the previous session.
Wall Street rose on Thursday, with Apple taking the crown to become the first publicly traded U.S. company to reach the $1 trillion market value milestone. Apple shares have been on a tear since the company reported strong third-quarter earnings earlier this week.
The S&P 500 edged up by 0.49 percent to 2,827.22 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 1.24 percent to finish the session at 7,802.69. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 0.03 percent, or 7.66 points, to close at 25,326.16, paring an earlier dip of more than 200 points.
The positive mood stateside came despite elevated trade tensions between the U.S. and China. The Trump administration said that President Donald Trump had asked U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to consider hiking proposed tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports from a previously announced 10 percent to 25 percent.
China responded on Thursday, saying that it hoped the U.S. would not “engage in blackmail” and instead “return to reason.”
Markets in Europe and Asia had closed lower overnight against that backdrop, with the Shanghai Composite dropping 2.03 percent in the last session. The pan-European Stoxx 600 closed lower by 0.82 percent.
In currencies, the dollar firmed overnight amid trade worries. The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of peers, rose to last stand at 95.159. Against the yen, the dollar traded at 111.60 at 6:59 a.m. HK/SIN.
Meanwhile, the pound slipped even after the Bank of England announced an interest rate hike, with the central bank noting that Brexit talks were entering “a critical period.” The currency last traded at $1.3016.
On the earnings front in Asia, companies expected to report results on Friday include Singapore lender UOB and Toyota Motor.
Here’s the economic calendar for Friday (all times in HK/SIN):
Investors will also be watching for the release of the July jobs report stateside due during U.S. hours. Nonfarm payrolls are expected to show an increase of 190,000 jobs, according to a Reuters poll.
— CNBC’s Fred Imbert contributed to this report.
