Asia stock market live updates

Vietnamese equities climbed to a fresh record in almost 39 months on Friday. 

The benchmark Vietnam Index rose 0.5% to 1,529.14, its highest since April 4, 2022, data from LSEG showed.

The index was up 0.15% at 1,523.28 as of 12.28 p.m. local time (1.28 a.m. ET), with gains led by the industrials, energy and utilities sectors.

The best performing stocks were Chuong Duong Corp, which rose 7%, Bentre Aquaproduct Import and Export, which advanced 6.99% and Viglacera Corp, which added 6.94%.

— Nur Hikmah Md Ali

India expects to secure “preferential” tariffs from the United States that are better than those achieved by its economic rivals, according to India’s Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal.

Goyal, who led the negotiations on the U.K.-India trade agreement, signaled a confident approach from New Delhi in ongoing trade talks with Washington.

Read the full story here.

— Ganesh Rao

The Bank of Japan is expected to deliver a 25-basis-points hike in October, bringing the policy rate up to 0.75%, as the recent U.S.-Japan trade deal provided a timely boost to growth prospects, HSBC wrote in a Friday note.

“In our view, this early trade deal — announced well before the 1 August reciprocal tariff deadline — could put the BoJ’s path towards monetary policy normalization firmly back on track,” the bank’s analysts noted.

HSBC also expected the central bank to hold its rates steady at 0.50% and noted that the accompanying outlook report will provide insights into its interpretation of the country’s evolving growth and inflation.

—Lee Ying Shan

Thailand stocks were flat after a long-standing border conflict with Cambodia escalated in multiple areas on Thursday, with Reuters reporting at least 15 civilian deaths. Bangkok also mobilised an F-16 fighter jet to strike targets in Cambodia.

Thailand’s SET Index was flat, while Cambodia’s CSX Index was not trading as of 11:30 a.m. Singapore time (11:30 p.m. ET Thursday) as per LSEG data.

The escalations come a day after Thailand, on Wednesday, recalled its ambassador to Phnom Penh and expelled Cambodia’s envoy. This was in response to a second Thai soldier being injured by a landmine laid along the border.

— Lee Ying Shan, Lim Hui Jie

Mainland China and Hong Kong stocks opened lower, as the Asia-Pacific region was mostly in the red.

Mainland China’s CSI 300 was down 0.16%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index — which includes major Chinese companies — lost 0.53%.

The Hang Seng Tech Index, which tracks the largest technology companies listed in Hong Kong, fell 1.07%.

—Lee Ying Shan

Inflation in Japan’s capital of Tokyo came in at 2.9% for July, softening from the 3.1% seen in June.

Core inflation, which strips out prices of volatile fresh food, also fell to 2.9% in July from 3.1% in the previous month. The latest reading was lower than the 3% expected by a Reuters poll of economists.

Tokyo’s inflation figures are widely considered to be a leading indicator of nationwide trends.

— Lim Hui Jie

Asia markets started the trading day lower.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 fell 0.24%, while the Topix lost 0.55%.

South Korea’s Kospi was flat and the small-cap Kosdaq slipped 0.48%.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.41%.

—Lee Ying Shan

Good morning from Singapore. Asia markets were set for a muted open Friday.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 was set to start the trading day lower, with the futures contract in Chicago at 41,740 and its counterpart in Osaka at 41,640, against the index’s last close at 41,826.34.

Futures for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index stood at 25,505, pointing to a weaker open compared with the HSI’s last close of 25,667.18.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was also on track to start the day lower with futures tied to the benchmark at 8,637, compared with its last close of 8,709.4.

— Lee Ying Shan

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite ended Thursday’s session with fresh record closes after scoring new all-time intraday highs earlier in the trading day.

The broad market index closed 0.07% higher to end at 6,363.35, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq inched up 0.18% to finish at 21,057.96.

However, the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average pulled back 316.38 points, or 0.7%, to settle at 44,693.91.

— Sean Conlon