Asian markets flat, U.S.-China trade negotiations in focus By Investing.com

Investing.com – Asian equities were mixed in early morning trade on Tuesday, without clear directional drivers and U.S. markets closed for the Labor Day holiday.

Hong Kong’s Index continued along its downward trend at the opening but recovered from mild sessions early in the morning session. The index was up 0.13% to 25,662 as the city entered the second of a two-day strike supported by a range of industrial sectors and social unrest entered its 14th week.

Japan’s was up 0.1% to 20,640 by 9:35 PM ET (01:35 GMT).

China’s  was flat at the start of trade, down 0.01% to 2,923 while the was also flat at 9,569.

South Korea’s was up 0.24% to 1,975 while Australia’s was subdued but in the green, up 0.06% to 6,583.

Over the weekend, new U.S. tariffs on about US$110 billion worth of Chinese goods took effect as did retaliatory Chinese tariffs of 5% to 10% on a range of U.S. goods. Markets seemed to take this latest escalation of the trade war in stride and trading was thin.

Still, on Monday, mainland China stocks got a bump after Beijing announced plans to keep “reasonably ample” liquidity, Bloomberg reported.

However, Bloomberg also reported that trade officials on both sides of the dispute have been struggling to schedule a meeting planned for later this month, a challenge that sent U.S. futures lower and the dollar to two-year highs.

Data from China out on Saturday also painted a gloomy outlook for the Chinese economy. Although the (PMI) out on Monday suggested a surprise expansion of the economy with a reading of 50.4 for August and higher than the 49.8 expected by analysts polled by Reuters, the official PMI out on Saturday pointed to continued downward pressure with a reading for August of 49.5, down from 49.7 in July.

Investors are now looking forward to a monetary policy decision in Australia out on Tuesday.