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Japan's Topix index rises above 3,000 for first time

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Nasdaq futures rise, on track for third day of gains

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Markets eye dovish tilt at Fed as Miran appointed

By Gregor Stuart Hunter

SINGAPORE, Aug 8 (Reuters) - Japanese shares surged on

Friday after positive earnings reports and expectations the U.S.

would remove overlapping tariffs on the country's goods, while

shares were down in other Asian markets after a late retreat on

Wall Street during the previous session.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan

slipped 0.4% with Hong Kong's market leading

declines, after U.S. stocks ended the previous session with mild

losses after nearing a one-week high.

Meanwhile, Japanese stocks soared, with the Nikkei 225

up 2% and the Topix index hitting a fresh

record, trading above 3,000 for the first time.

Shares in SoftBank Group rallied as much as 11%

after the technology investor reported that it swung back to

profit in the first quarter. Sony Group ( SONY ) gained 6%,

adding to its earnings-fuelled 4.1% advance from Thursday.

U.S. stock futures, the S&P 500 e-minis, were up

0.3%, while Nasdaq futures rose 0.4%, on track to extend

gains into a third day.

The rally for stocks comes "against the backdrop of an

emerging titanic dovish pivot at the Federal Reserve," said Tony

Sycamore, market analyst at IG in Sydney.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday he would

nominate Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Stephen Miran for

the vacant seat at the Federal Reserve while the White House

seeks a permanent addition to the central bank's governing board

and continues its search for a new Fed chair.

The market is also digesting a Bloomberg News report that

Fed Governor Christopher Waller is the top candidate to replace

Chair Jerome Powell, whose term ends on May 15, 2026.

The yield on benchmark 10-year Treasury notes

rose to 4.2461%, up from the U.S. close of 4.244% on Thursday,

after weak demand at an auction of 30-year bonds, the latest in

a string of lacklustre sales this week.

The rally for Japanese stocks follows a mixed bag of

earnings reports for the country's biggest exporters, as some

companies like Toyota Motor ( TM ) slashed their profit

forecasts, while Sony ( SONY ) and Honda ( HMC ) said the impact would

be less than feared.

As the effective date of recent U.S. trade duties arrived,

Tokyo's trade negotiator said the U.S. government on Thursday

promised it would fine-tune some of its overlapping tariffs on

Japanese goods to avoid the duties being paid on some products

twice.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 0.6%, with

technology shares leading declines and China's blue-chip CSI 300

index slipped 0.1%. Australian stocks were

0.2% lower.

The dollar rose 0.1% against the yen to 147.27.

Japanese household spending data released Friday, which

provides clues to consumption and wage trends that the Bank of

Japan is monitoring to determine the timing of its next rate

hike, rose at a slower-than-anticipated 1.3%.

The European single currency was flat at $1.1669,

having gained 2.23% in a month, while the dollar index,

which tracks the greenback against a basket of currencies of

other major trading partners, was up 0.2% at 98.124.

In commodity markets, Brent futures were unchanged

at $66.45, while U.S. crude futures were little changed

at $63.81 a barrel. Gold was 0.4% lower, with bullion

last trading at $3391.157 per ounce.