Asian stocks ended mixed on Thursday as trade war concerns resurfaced following mixed signals from the Trump administration regarding easing tariffs on Chinese imports.
U.S.-China trade deal optimism faded after U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said there were no plans for President Trump to move first in lowering tariffs to ease Sino-U.S. tensions, echoing comments from White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt that there will be no unilateral reduction in tariffs against China.
The dollar turned lower after a brief recovery, helping gold prices bounce back in Asian trade. Oil prices also edged up after Wednesday's 2 percent fall.
China's Shanghai Composite index ended marginally higher at 3,297.29 despite shares of cloud computing, big data and software companies suffering heavy losses.
China today launched its first batch of special sovereign bonds for 2025, aiming to cushion the economy from simmering trade tensions with the U.S.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 0.74 percent to 21,909.76, dropping for the first time in four days, dragged down by tech shares.