· European stocks traded mixed on Friday morning as auto stocks struggled on the back of a profit warning from German carmaker Daimler.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 hovered just above the flatline in early trade, bank stocks leading gains with a 0.8% climb while autos slipped 0.8%.

· Asian shares shuttled between small losses and gains on Friday as investors awaited China trade, lending and growth data, and as worries over Sino-U.S. trade tensions deflated optimism rooted in expectations of a Federal Reserve rate cut this month.

Later on Friday, China will release June trade data, with analysts expecting exports to have fallen as weakening global demand and a sharp hike in U.S. tariffs took a heavier toll on the world’s largest trading nation.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS, which moved in a narrow range through the day, was flat in the afternoon. Chinese shares rose, with the CSI300 .CSI300 adding 0.85%.

· Japan’s Nikkei edged higher in choppy trade on Friday, helped by index heavyweight Fast Retailing, but weak profits from some firms such as Yaskawa Electric dragged on machinery stocks.

The Nikkei share average ended 0.2% higher at 21,685.90 points. For the week, it fell 0.3%, its first such drop in six weeks.

As Japanese markets will be closed for a holiday on Monday, investors refrained from taking large positions, analysts said.

They said that the market will likely focus on quarterly earnings results from U.S. and Japanese companies next week.

· China stocks ended higher on Friday ahead of a slew of economic data and tracking Wall Street’s fresh highs overnight buoyed by renewed U.S. rate-cut hopes, but the main domestic indexes closed down for the week.

The blue-chip CSI300 index rose 0.6%, to 3,808.73 points, while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.4% to 2,930.55 points.

Reference: CNBC, Reuters