The leading Asian stock exchanges went in different directions in the initial Friday trading, ahead of the upcoming meeting between the US and China in Switzerland due to President Donald Trump's tariff policy.
In Tokyo, both Nikkei 225 and Topix had risen by 1.5 percent each by lunchtime.
Fairly cheerful was the atmosphere also in Hong Kong, where the Hang Seng index climbed 0.2 percent.
In Shanghai and Shenzhen, the mood was significantly more gloomy, where the composite index contracted by 0.4 and 1 percent, respectively.
On the stock exchange in South Korea, the mood can best be described as ambivalent, which was reflected in the Kospi index hovering around zero.
