Asia-Pacific markets set to open higher following strong gains on Wall Street

Asia-Pacific markets are set to rise Friday, trailing gains on Wall Street after White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt downplayed the impending start of the tariff deals, which have weighed on investor sentiment.

July 8 is when the so-called liberation day tariffs are set to take effect after a 90-day pause, and July 9 is the deadline for an EU deal to avoid 50% tariffs.

“The deadline is not critical,” said Leavitt. “Perhaps it could be extended, but that's a decision for the president to make.”

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 was set to open higher, with the futures contract in Chicago at 39,990 while its counterpart in Osaka last traded at 39,780, against the index's Thursday close of 39,584.58, which was a five-month high.

Futures for Hong Kong's Hang Seng index stood at 24,348, pointing to a slightly higher open compared to the HSI's last close of 24,325.40

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 is also set to open higher, with futures tied to the index at 8,584, compared to its last close of 8,550.80.

U.S. stock futures were near the flatline in early Asian hours as investors awaited the release of several data points, including inflation, personal income, consumer spending and consumer sentiment.

Overnight stateside, the S&P 500 rose to within a whisker of a new record high, as the broad market index overcame a slew of macroeconomic challenges including tariff wars, geopolitical tensions and sticky inflation.

The S&P 500 climbed 0.8% to close at 6,141.02, bringing its gain on the week to 2.9% and putting it just a few points away from its intraday all-time high of 6,147.43 in late February.

The Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.97% to 20,167.91, also inches away from a new record. The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased by 404.41 points, or 0.94%, to 43,386.84.