Foreign Markets

Asian stocks ended mixed on Thursday, with mainland Chinese and Hong Kong stocks rising, after U.S. President Donald Trump said reciprocal duties that are set to be announced next week will be very lenient, and that tariffs on China could be reduced to facilitate a deal on the sale of ByteDance Ltd.'s social video platform TikTok to an American company.

A cautious undertone prevailed elsewhere in the region after Trump announced a 25 percent tariff on auto imports to boost domestic manufacturing.

Gold ticked higher on safe-haven demand while oil prices dipped after rising on Wednesday, buoyed by data showing a decline in U.S. inventories and renewed efforts from the U.S. to limit Venezuelan and Iranian oil exports.

China's Composite index edged up by 0.15 percent to 3,373.75 as Trump's comments about TikTok suggested there is room for negotiations.

Additionally, Chinese industrial companies' profits declined at the start of the year but showed some signs of improvement. Industrial profits fell 0.3% in the January-February period from the same period last year, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). That compared with an 11% increase in earnings in December.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index added 0.41 percent to close at 23,578.80. Chinese automakers, which have limited exposure to the U.S. markets rose, with EV giant BYD surging 2.8 percent.

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