Investing.com – Asian stocks were mostly higher in morning trade on Thursday, taking cues from Wall Street's advance as banking earnings pushed U.S. equities higher.
Overnight, The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.3%, recording its fifth straight positive session. The S&P 500 advanced 0.2% and the Nasdaq Composite closed nearly flat at 7,854.44.
On the trade front, White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow said trade talks with China have paused for now, although discussions with the European Union have been more promising, and that the administration expects a significant trade offer to come from the European Union soon.
EU President Jean-Claude Juncker is coming to Washington next week, Kudlow told CNBC in an interview. "We will be in discussions," he said. "I am told he's bringing a very important free trade offer." Kudlow added he couldn't confirm that.
In Asia, China’s Shanghai Composite climbed 0.1% while the Shenzhen Component slipped 0.2% by 10:30PM ET (02:30 GMT). Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.3%.
Investment firm BlackRock Inc (NYSE:BLK). said on Wednesday that the recent trade dispute between the U.S. and China shouldn’t scare long-term investors away, because markets tend to adjust to such tensions.
“It’s that adjustment that’s painful,” Mark Wiseman, global head of active equities, said Wednesday at a press briefing in New York. “If you take a 10-year view on the Chinese economy, from an economic perspective it will smooth itself out,” Wiseman said.
Down under, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.4%. The country’s employment rose 50,900 in June, beating estimate of 16,500, official data showed on Thursday.
Elsewhere, Japan's Nikkei 225 added 0.3% in morning trade after data revealed the country’s exports to the U.S. fell 0.9% in June from the same period a year ago.
Japan's overall exports rose 6.7% in June from the same period a year ago, less than the median estimate for a 7.0% annual increase. Exports grew an annual 8.1 percent in May.
Meanwhile, imports rose 2.5% in the year to June, versus the median estimate for a 7.0% increase.