Asian markets gained in early trading Friday amid optimism over U.S.-China trade talks, which headed into their second day in Washington.
Despite low expectations going into the first face-to-face high-level negotiations since July, hopes rose that a limited trade deal could be agreed upon after Thursday first day of meetings. “We’re doing very well … We’re going to see them tomorrow, right here, and it’s going very well,” President Donald Trump told reporters outside the White House.
Trump is scheduled to meet Vice Premier Liu He, China’s lead trade negotiator, on Friday after the talks wrap up. Analysts are hopeful that enough progress will be made for Trump to put off tariff hikes on $250 billion of Chinese imports scheduled to go into effect next week.
“Investors are starting to believe there is light at the end of the trade-war tunnel,” Stephen Innes, Asia-Pacific market strategist at AxiTrader, wrote in a note.
Japan’s Nikkei
rose 1% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index
jumped 1.3%. The Shanghai Composite
was about flat while the smaller-cap Shenzhen Composite
slipped 0.4%. South Korea’s Kospi
gained 0.8%, and benchmark indexes in Malaysia
, Singapore
and Indonesia
rose slightly. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200
advanced 0.6%. Taiwan’s Taiex remained closed for a holiday.
Among individual stocks, Uniqlo parent Fast Retailing
surged in Tokyo trading after reporting record profit for the third straight fiscal year. Honda
and oil producer Inpex
also rose. In Hong Kong, national oil company CNOOC
gained, as did tech giant Tencent
and property developer Sun Hung Kai Properties
. Samsung Electronics
advanced in South Korea, while mining giants BHP
and Rio Tinto
gained in Australia.
