Asian shares rise, China trading closed for national holiday

TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares rose Friday amid mixed signs for investors such as rising energy prices and COVID-19 restrictions easing in China.

Trading was closed in China for the Dragon Boat Festival, a national holiday. Benchmarks in the rest of the region edged higher, cheered by a rally overnight on Wall Street.

Market players are closely watching for U.S. non-farm employment data later in the day, as well as a slew of economic data on Japan next week. The OPEC meeting, in which oil-producing nations decided to boost some output, failed to steady energy prices significantly.

“To say the OPEC meeting outcome disappointed expectations would be an understatement,” said Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management.

Japan and the U.S. signed a revision on the “beef safeguard” mechanism under the U.S.-Japan Trade Agreement, which will help American beef producers meet Japan’s growing demand for high-quality beef. The deal will reduce the chances Japan's safeguard duties would be imposed on U.S. beef, both sides said. That happened in early 2021.

"Together, the United States and Japan are demonstrating our commitment to working together on shared priorities to achieve concrete, economically meaningful results for our people,” said U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 jumped 1.2% in afternoon trading to 27,742.70. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 added 0.9% to 7,237.40, while South Korea's Kospi gained 0.4% to 2,668.52.

Stocks on Wall Street overcame a shaky start to close broadly higher Thursday, as the major indexes more than made up for losses earlier in the holiday-shortened week.

The S&P 500 rose 1.8% to 4,176.82, with more than 85% of the stocks in the benchmark index notching gains. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.3%...