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· Asian shares snoozed near 18-month highs on Friday as trade thinned in the run-up to Christmas and investors seemed content to digest the chunky gains already made so far this month.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS were steady after rising 1.2% so far this week and almost 5% this month.

Sentiment got a boost after U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the United States and China would sign their Phase One trade pact in early January.

· Japan’s Nikkei share average dipped on Friday as investors took profits, especially in large caps, and awaited more clarity on a U.S.-China trade deal announced last week.

The Nikkei share average fell 0.20% to 23,816.63, while the broader Topix lost 0.18% to 1,733.07, with the Topix core 30 of the biggest firms falling 0.56%. For the week, the Nikkei fell about 0.9% after three weeks of gains.

Investors chose to book profits ahead of the year-end holiday after Japanese shares hit a 14-month high earlier this week on news of the tentative trade deal being finalised between Washington and Beijing.

· China stocks eased on Friday, but posted their third straight weekly gain on improving relations between Washington and Beijing after they reached an initial trade deal last week.

The blue-chip CSI300 index fell 0.3%, to 4,017.25, while the Shanghai Composite Index shed 0.4%, to 3,004.94.

For the week, CSI300 gained 1.2%, while SSEC was up 1.23%.

· European stocks opened mostly higher on Friday as the recent rally on the back of U.S.-China trade progress looked set to continue into the holiday season.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 climbed just over 0.1% in early trade, with utilities out in front on 0.4% gains while banks shed 0.2%.