It has been a relatively buoyant session.....>

STOCKS: It has been a relatively buoyant session for the major Asia-Pacific

indices, following a positive lead from Wall St., with the space seemingly

clinging to hope surrounding a WSJ piece that suggested that the U.S.

administration is discussing a rollback of the Chinese tariffs, despite the

subsequent denial from the Tsy in late NY hours.

- The Hang Seng performed well in spite large and peculiar sell offs in some of

the index constituents on Thursday, with no real clarity behind the moves (some

point to bond default worries and share pledging issues, although this hasn't

been confirmed, and was denied in some cases).

- Nikkei 225 +1.2%, Hang Seng +1.0%, CSI 300 +1.1%, ASX200 +0.5%.

- U.S. equity index futures also trade higher.

- S&P 500 +6, DJIA +72, NASDAQ +17.