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· Asian stocks retreated from six-month highs on Friday as conflicting signals from China and the United States on progress made in trade talks deflated market hopes of a near term truce to end their damaging tariff war.

MSCI’s gauge of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was off 0.4% at 535.20 points after rising to 538.77, a level not seen since early May. For the week, it is so far up about 2%.

The moves contrast with Thursday’s surge of optimism in global markets on news Beijing and China have agreed to roll back tariffs on each others’ goods as part of the first phase of a trade deal.

· Japan’s benchmark stock index rallied to a 13-month high on Friday on growing optimism for the economy, before paring part of those gains due to conflicting reports on how much progress has been made in U.S.-China trade negotiations.

The Nikkei average was up 0.26% at 23,391.87, after climbing to as high as 23,591.09 - the highest point since Oct. 10 of last year. For the week, the index logged a 2.37% gain for its fifth consecutive weekly rise.

The broader Topix advanced 0.27% to 1,702.77, its highest in more than a year, with trade turnover reaching 3.12 trillion yen ($28.6 billion), 47% above the average over the past three months.

· China shares reversed gains to end lower on Friday as a Reuters report suggesting White House officials opposed rolling back tariffs on Beijing raised uncertainty around the first phase of a trade deal.

The Shanghai Composite index closed down 0.5% at 2,964.18, the lowest close since November 1. The index inched up 0.2% from the previous week.

· European markets opened slightly lower Friday morning, as investors monitored the latest developments in the ongoing Sino-U.S. trade war.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 was down around 0.3% shortly after the opening bell, with most sectors and major bourses in negative territory.