GOOD MORNING ASIA

In Economy

On Friday, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up less than 0.1%. Asia Indices flat in early trade following a fall on Wall Street, with a deteriorating global economic outlook outweighing more signs of progress in trade talks between China and the United States.
Investors continue to closely watch high-level talks between U.S. and Chinese trade negotiators in Washington, with little more than a week left before a U.S.-imposed deadline for an agreement expires, triggering higher tariffs.
Reuters reported exclusively on Wednesday that the two sides were drafting language for six memorandums of understanding on proposed Chinese reforms, progress that had helped to lift investor sentiment.
On Thursday, Wall Street slumped pulled down by new data showing weakness in U.S. business spending plans and factory activity. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.4% to 25,850.63 points, the S&P 500 lost 0.37 to 2,774.28 and the Nasdaq Composite - which had climbed the previous eight sessions - dropped 0.4% to 7,459.06.
U.S. Commerce Department said on Thursday that domestic orders for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft, a closely watched proxy for business spending plans, dropped 0.7%.
U.S. Mid-Atlantic factory sector fell into contraction territory in February for the first time since May 2016, data from the Philadelphia Federal Reserve showed.

The yield on benchmark 10-year Treasury notes edged lower to 2.686% Friday, compared with a U.S. close of 2.688% on Thursday as a bump from investor optimism about trade talks progress ebbed.
The 2-year yield, watched as a gauge of expectations of higher Fed fund rates, eased to 2.5266% from a U.S. close of 2.529%.

The AUDUSD rebounded after tumbling Thursday on a Reuters report that China's northern port of Dalian has placed an indefinite ban on imports of Australian coal. It was last up 0.3% at $0.7089.
The U.S. dollar was barely changed against the yen at 110.74.
The euro inched slightly higher to buy $1.1334. EUR/USD might be vulnerable to under-performing German GDP with the risk of an EU-US trade conflict mounting after Trump received a key auto report earlier this week.
The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was steady at 96.586

U.S. crude dipped 0.25% at $56.82 a barrel.
Gold rebounded after falling more than 1% Thursday, with spot gold trading up about 0.1% at $1,324.92 per ounce.
EU negotiators have said they do not want to include agriculture in the bilateral discussions, one of a series of negotiations the United States has kicked off to secure better terms of trade.