Asian stocks notched up small gains as investors largely adopted a wait-and-watch approach on tariff negotiations before taking long-term bets.

While the Nikkei-225 gauge in Japan advanced 0.6%, shares in mainland China dipped 0.4% after the US took steps to impose levies on Chinese vessels docking at its ports. Most of the other markets in the region are shut for the Good Friday holiday.

Traders are focused more on developments in country-specific discussions, seeking clues on how the tariffs will pan out. After the “big progress” in the Japan-US talks, President Donald Trump said he’s “very confident” of a deal with the European Union, without giving further details. Questions surround the status of talks after Beijing indicated Wednesday it has several conditions for agreeing to talks with the administration.

“Trump was not negative on trade negotiations with the EU,” said Masahiro Ichikawa, chief market strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Co. “The Japan-US negotiations that ended yesterday were also a good first round with no disturbance as currency exchange was not on the agenda.”

The yen was little changed Friday after weakening in the prior session as Japan’s top negotiator said currencies weren’t discussed in the bilateral meeting. That allayed concerns a stronger exchange rate would be part of the US demands.

While Trump didn’t offer details of any agreement with the EU, he was decisive on a critical US-Ukraine minerals accord, saying a deal would be signed next week. The president also said he was reluctant to continue ratcheting up tariffs on China because it could stall trade between the two countries, and insisted Beijing had repeatedly reached out in a bid to broker a deal.

Still, the administration took steps to impose levies on Chinese vessels docking at US ports, threatening to shake up global shipping routes and escalate the trade war between the world’s two biggest economies.

Shipping stocks in Japan and South Korea such as Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd. and HMM Co. jumped.

Elsewhere in Japan, consumer inflation advanced apace last month, supporting the central bank’s stance on a gradual rate-hike path. The price of rice, the nation’s staple food, rose 92.1% from a year earlier, the fastest pace in data going back to 1971.

In other moves, the New Zealand dollar extended a decline from a five-month high.

US equities posted a weekly loss amid disappointment over Jerome Powell’s push back on the idea of the Federal Reserve supporting markets. Treasuries fell on Thursday to pare a weekly advance, while the dollar dropped for a third week.

Trump criticized Powell on social media Thursday, saying the Fed Chair’s termination from his post can’t come quickly enough, arguing that the central bank should have cut interest rates already this year. Trump later told reporters he could force Powell out if he wanted to.

Some of the main moves in markets:

Stocks

  • Japan’s Topix rose 0.8%

  • The Shanghai Composite fell 0.4%

Currencies

  • The Japanese yen was little changed at 142.31 per dollar

Cryptocurrencies

  • Bitcoin fell 0.4% to $84,833.2

  • Ether fell 0.1% to $1,582.22

. Read more on Markets by NDTV Profit.While the Nikkei-225 gauge in Japan advanced 0.6%, shares in mainland China dipped 0.4% after the US took steps to impose levies on Chinese vessels docking at its ports.  Read MoreMarkets, Business, Bloomberg 

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