Asian Markets Trade Mostly Higher

Asian stock markets are trading mostly higher on Friday, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, with China, Hong Kong and Taiwan closed for holidays, on optimism about the end of the Middle East war amid the inking of an interim peace agreement and the opening of the Strait of Hormuz. These were partially offset by concerns about a possible interest rate hike by the US Fed later this year. Asian markets ended mixed on Thursday.

The tumbling crude oil prices due to the hopes of the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and a plunge in gold prices due to the possibility of higher U.S. interest rates, both of which weighed on the energy and metal-linked materials sectors. Crude oil prices are pulling back further toward the levels seen before the war began in late February.