Shares in Asia mostly traded higher Tuesday morning as investors monitor further developments on the US-China trade front with the two economic powerhouses working toward a deal.
In Japan, theNikkei 225rose 0. 52% while the Topix gained 0. 93%. Shares of airlinerANA, however, fell more than 0.5% following aNikkei report) that the firm is expected to report a more than 20% drop in profit.
TheHang Seng indexin Hong Kong advanced 0. 17%. South Korea’sKospialso added 0.1%. Meanwhile, theS & P / ASX 200in Australia rose fractionally.
Mainland Chinese stocks, on the other hand, lagged in the region. TheShanghai compositeshed more than 0.3% and the Shenzhen component was fractionally lower. The Shenzhen composite also declined 0. 115%.
Overall, theMSCI Asia ex -Japan indextraded 0. (% higher.)
Investors will continue to watch for developments in US-China trade. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said Monday that Washington willconsider extending certain tariff exclusionson $ 34 billion worth of imports from China.The USTR said last weekthat China and the U.S. are close to finalizing a phase one deal.
For his part, U.S. PresidentDonald Trumpsaid the deal with China is expected to be signed “ahead of schedule, “but did not elaborate on the timing, Reuters reported.
” The two sides have seemingly reached consensus in areas including standards used by agricultural regulators, but is probably worth noting that so far neither party has officially said anything about the contentious issue surrounding China’s demand for a pullback on US Tariffs, “Rodrigo Catril, senior foreign exchange strategist at National Australia Bank, wrote in a morning note.
“Given the ups and downs we’ve seen over the last year or more on this front, i think it’s very hard to say firmly: ‘Yes, this is the definitive deal. Yes, it’s the end of these issues,’ “Hugh Young, head of Asia Pacific at Aberdeen Standard Investments, told CNBC’s” Squawk Box “on Tuesday.
“I don’t think it will be done and dusted and we won’t be speaking about it in a year ti me, I suspect we will still be speaking about it in a year time, “Young said, citing issues as the competition between the U.S. and China forsupremacy in the 5G wireless technology space.
(Overnight on Wall Street, theS&P)scaled a record high as investors stateside cheered strong earnings and optimism on US-China trade. The S&P 500 added 0.6% to close at 3, 039. 42 – above its previous record set on July 26. TheDow Jones Industrial Averagerose 132. 66 points to end its trading day at 27, 090. 72 while theNasdaq Compositegained 1% to close at 8, 325. 99.
Of the (S&P) companies that reported through Monday morning, 78% have topped analyst expectations, according to FactSet.
(Currencies and oil) ************************
TheUS dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 97. 797 after touching highs above 97 .8 yesterday.
The (Japanese yen) traded at 108. 96 against the dollar after weakening from levels below 108 .9 in the previous session. TheAustralian dollarchanged hands at $ 0. 6840 after touching highs above $ 0. 684 yesterday .
Oil prices shed earlier gains to slip in the morning of Asian trading hours, with international benchmarkBrent crude futuresjust below the flatline at $ 61. per barrel andUS crude futuresdeclining 0. 18% to $ 55. (per barrel.)
What’s on tap:
- Japan earnings: NTT Docomo, Nomura Holdings, NEC, ANA
- Australia: Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Philip Lowe speech at 2: 45 pm HK / SIN
– CNBC’s Lauren Hirsch and Fred Imbert contributed to this report.
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