Sawt Falasteen - Asia stocks rise in wake of Wall Street rally

US stocks rallied for a third straight session Thursday, shrugging off signs US trade deals with China and the European Union aren't imminent.

Beijing had said on Thursday any claims of ongoing trade talks with Washington were "groundless" after Trump played up the prospects of a deal to lower hefty tariffs he imposed on China.

France's economy minister Eric Lombard said a trade deal between the United States and the European Union was also a way off.

But global markets appear to have brushed aside the lack of progress.

"There are mixed signals about whether there have been some talks about trade between US and China," said Lloyd Chan, a senior currency analyst at MUFG.

"Nonetheless, the trade war and US policy-related uncertainty have persisted. Asian economies still face the risk of higher reciprocal tariffs."

Tokyo climbed one percent, while Hong Kong, Shanghai were also up.

The Nikkei rise came despite struggling Japanese auto giant Nissan issuing a stark profit warning on Thursday, forecasting a huge loss of up to $5.3 billion in the 2024-25 financial year.

The markets see that the company "is moving ahead toward turnaround", said Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Tatsuo Yoshida, as Nissan shares climbed more than three percent on Friday.

"Booking significant impairment losses and restructuring charges is a necessary step toward Nissan Motor’s turnaround."

Seoul jumped 0.5 percent after US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said a trade "understanding" between South Korea and the United States could be reached by next week

Taipei, Sydney, Singapore, Manila and Wellington also climbed.

Markets were responding to strong earnings from Google parent Alphabet, which reported on Thursday a profit of $34.5 billion in the recently ended quarter.

Overall revenue at Alphabet grew 12 percent to $90.2 billion compared to the same period a year earlier, while revenue for the cloud unit grew 28 percent to $12.3 billion, according to the tech giant.

MUFG's Chan also pointed to the Federal Reserve possibly cutting interest rates sooner than expected.

Fed Governor Christopher Waller said during an interview with Bloomberg Television that he would support interest rate cuts if harsh tariffs hurt the jobs market.

"In terms of the latest Fed speak, Fed’s Waller has said he would support rate cuts should there be a significant deterioration in the labour market," Chan said.

- Key figures at 0300 GMT -

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 1.4 percent at 35,527.39 (break)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: UP 1.29 percent 22,191.59

Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.1 percent at 33,00.061

Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1349 from $1.1392 on Thursday

Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3304 from $1.3339

Dollar/yen: UP at 142.97 from 142.62 yen

Euro/pound: DOWN at 85.30 from 85.35 pence

West Texas Intermediate: UP 0.24 percent at $62.94 per barrel

Brent North Sea Crude: UP 0.2 percent at $66.68 per barrel

New York - Dow: UP 1.2 percent at 40,093.40 (close)

London - FTSE 100: UP 0.5 percent at 8,407.44 (close)

burs-tc/fox

O.Farraj--SF-PST