Asian markets gained in early trading Tuesday amid hopes that progress can be made at U.S.-China trade talks later this week.
China confirmed that its top trade negotiator, Vice Premier Liu He, would lead its delegation in Washington for high-level talks starting Thursday. China has reportedly taken some issues that the U.S. views as points of contention off the negotiating table, however.
President Donald Trump on Monday said there was a “good possibility” of reaching a deal with China to end the yearlong tariff war, though he added he would not be satisfied with a partial deal.
Meanwhile, the U.S. blacklisted a group of Chinese artificial-intelligence companies that it said was making technology that the Chinese government was using to repress its Muslim minority.
The U.S. on Monday also signed a limited trade deal with Japan, giving U.S. farmers benefits they lost when Trump pulled the U.S. out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership in 2017.
Japan’s Nikkei
NIK, +1.03%
rose 1% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index
HSI, +1.29%
gained 1.1% as it reopened after a holiday Monday. Mainland China’s markets reopened after a weeklong holiday, with the Shanghai Composite
SHCOMP, +0.85%
up 0.5% and the Shenzhen Composite
399106, +0.99%
up 0.8%. South Korea’s Kospi
180721, +1.05%
gained 1% and benchmark indexes in Taiwan
Y9999, +0.72%
, Singapore
STI, +0.77%
and Indonesia
JAKIDX, +0.31%
advanced. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200
XJO, +0.44%
rose 0.4%.
Shares of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd.
388, +3.27%
jumped after the company announced it was dropping its $37 billion bid to buy the London Stock Exchange, after the two companies’ boards were “unable to engage.” The LSE had previously rejected HKEX’s bid, which turned hostile.
Among individual stocks, Japan Steel Works
5631, +3.12%
gained in Tokyo trading, along with Fast Retailing
9983, +1.36%
and Toyota
7203, +1.23%
. In Hong Kong, Volvo parent Geely Automobile
175, +3.49%
, PetroChina
857, +2.27%
and property developer Country Garden
2007, +1.93%
rose. Samsung
005930, +1.36%
gained in South Korea after warning of a sharp drop in quarterly operating profit, though it said its chip sales could start recovering after the new year. Mining giant Rio Tinto
RIO, +1.20%
was up in Australia.
Source : MTV
