NEW YORK, New York - U.S. President Donald Trump was at it again on Friday, moving markets with an upbeat assessment of the chances of concluding a trade deal with China.

"We have a deal potentially very close," the president told "Fox and Friends" on Friday morning. "He (Chinese President Xi Jinping) wants to make it much more than I want to make it. I'm not anxious to make it. We're taking in hundreds of billions of dollars in tariffs," he said.

The words "potentially very close," was what got markets moving.

"It's tied back to the on-again, off-again narrative that's been the consistent theme regarding a potential trade deal with China. Our president says we're on today so the market's responding accordingly," Mike Loewengart, vice president for investment strategy at E*Trade Financial Corp in New York told the Reuters Thomson news agency on Friday.

At the close of trading Friday, the Dow Jones index was ahead 111.00 points or 0.40% at 27,877.29.

The Nasdaq Composite advanced 10.92 points or 0.13% to 8,517.13.

The Standard and Poor's 500 added 6.57 points or 0.21% to 3,110.11.

The U.S. dollar strengthened on Friday. The euro drifted lower to 1.1021. The British pound was sharply lower, losing nearly a full cent to 1.2834. The Japanese yen dipped to 108.63. The Swiss franc eased to 0.9974.

The Canadian dollar inched down to 1.3292. The Australian and New Zealand dollars were little changed but weak at 0.6785 and 0.6405 respectively.

On overseas markets, the German Dax and the Paris-based CAC 40 both climbed 0.20%. In London, the mood was more euphoric. The benchmark FTSE 100 rallied by 1.22%.

In Asia, the Nikkei 225, jumped 107.06 points or 0.46% to close Friday at 23,145.64.

The Australian All Ordinaries climbed 38.80 points or 0.57% to 6,816.50.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng rose 128.20 points or 0.48% to 26,595.88.

China's Shanghai Composite slid 18.35 points or 0.63% to 2,885.29.