In Economy
On Friday , MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up less than 0.1% in early trade. Asian Indices inched higher with broader gains capped by investor caution as concerns about China's economy and global trade weighed on sentiment while stronger-than-expected U.S. GDP data pushed the dollar up.
Investors will be looking to the opening of Chinese markets after the benchmark Shanghai Composite index posted its strongest monthly gain in nearly four years in February.
On Thursday , U.S. President Donald Trump fueled concerns over trade talks between the United States and China, warning that he could walk away from a trade deal with China if it were not good enough.
Mixed messages on trade combined with the collapse of the summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on denuclearization, and data from China showing slowing factory activity to pressure U.S. stocks.
South Korea's financial markets are closed Friday for a public holiday.
On Thursday , Better-than-expected U.S. economic growth in the fourth quarter was not enough to lift Wall Street. Gross domestic product rose 2.9% for the year, just shy of the 3% goal set by the Trump administration.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.27% to 25,916 points, the S&P 500 lost 0.28% to 2,784.49 and the Nasdaq dropped 0.29% to 7,532.53.
On Friday , lift yields on benchmark 10-year Treasury notes to 2.7222% on Friday on U.S. GDP data, from a U.S. close of 2.711 percent on Thursday. The two-year yield, sensitive to expectations of higher Fed fund rates, ticked up to 2.5182% percent from a U.S. close of 2.512%.
In Currency
The dollar hovered near a 10-week high against the yen on Friday, thanks to a surge in Treasury yields after U.S. gross domestic product data topped expectations.
The dollar index against a basket of six major currencies stood at 96.17 after grinding out a 0.15% gain on Thursday, when it pulled back from a three-week trough of 95.824.
The euro was steady at $1.1370, having slid from a three-week peak of $1.1420 scaled the previous day.
The Australian dollar nudged at par 0.02% to $0.7094, trimming some of the previous day's sharp losses.
The People's Bank of China set the yuan reference rate at 6.6957 vs the previous day's fix of 6.6901
In Commodity Markets,
Oil prices rose on Friday as markets tightened amid output cuts by producer club OPEC, but surging U.S. supply and a global economic slowdown prevented crude from climbing further.
WTI crude oil futures were at $57.45 per barrel , up 0.4%, from their last settlement. International Brent crude futures were at $66.55 per barrel, up 0.4%.
Gold's brief pop from the abandoned U.S-North Korea nuclear summit is over and the yellow metal's back to chasing the hedge play over China's elusive trade deal -- although the dollar seems to be doing a better job of that.
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