MANILA, Philippines (AP) \u2014 Asian shares were mostly lower Friday while Tokyo\u2019s benchmark spiked by more than 2% after Japanese officials said they had resolved questions over the tariff that will apply to exports to the U.S. <\/p>\n
The new U.S. tariffs on Japanese goods that took effect Thursday<\/a> did not match an agreement between Washington and Tokyo on a 15% level, and Japan\u2019s main trade envoy said the U.S. side had agreed to correct the problem. <\/p>\n The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo rose 2.2% but later trimmed some of its gains, adding 1.9% to 41,820.48. Toyota Motor Corp. jumped 3.5% and Honda Motor Co. was up 4%. Automakers are among the manufacturers with the most at stake regarding exports to the U.S. <\/p>\n Elsewhere in Asia, most markets slipped following declines on Wall Street. <\/p>\n Hong Kong\u2019s Hang Seng declined 1% to 24,841.32, while the Shanghai Composite index shed 0.3% to 3,635.13.<\/p>\n South Korea\u2019s Kospi fell 0.6% to 3,210,01. In Australia, the S&P\/ASX 200 slipped 0.3% to 8,807.10. <\/p>\n Taiwan\u2019s Taiex gained 0.1% and the Sensex in India was down 0.7%. <\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re heading into a stretch where markets will punish certainty. The momentum winds are shapeshifters\u2014what looks like a slam dunk on Monday can turn into a face plant by Friday,\u201d Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary. <\/p>\n On Thursday, the S&P 500 edged 0.1% lower and the Dow industrials dipped 0.5%. The Nasdaq composite rose 0.3% to a record as shares in Apple and some computer chip makers soared. <\/p>\n Intel sank 3.1% after Trump called for its CEO to resign<\/a>, while accusing him of being \u201chighly CONFLICTED,\u201d though he gave no evidence. <\/p>\n But Apple rose 3.2% after its CEO Tim Cook joined Trump at the White House on Wednesday to say it\u2019s increasing its investment in U.S. manufacturing by an additional $100 billion over the next four years.<\/p>\n Computer chip makers with big investments or manufacturing capacity in the U.S. surged higher after Trump ordered 100% tariffs on imported semiconductors but said companies with big U.S. investments would be exempt. Shares in Advanced Micro Devices jumped 5.7% and Nvidia gained 0.8%. <\/p>\n A worse-than-expected report on the U.S. jobs market<\/a> last week added to worries that President Donald Trump\u2019s tariffs are damaging the economy<\/a>. But hopes for coming cuts to interest rates by the Federal Reserve and a torrent of stronger-than-expected profit reports from big U.S. companies are helping to offset those concerns.<\/p>\n Lower interest rates can give the economy and investment prices a boost, though the downside is that they can also push inflation higher at a time when tariffs are also pushing prices up. <\/p>\n