By Marketwatch and Associated Press
Getty Images/iStockphoto
Asian markets mostly gained in early trading Tuesday, following upbeat remarks by President Donald Trump on Monday regarding the trade war with China.
Speaking at the conclusion of the G-7 summit in France, Trump said he was ready to resume trade negotiations with China, following what he said were two “very good calls” from Beijing. Chinese officials denied they made such calls though, but said they have been maintaining contact with U.S. officials. Still, Trump said China wants a deal “very badly” and left open the possibility of delaying or even canceling a fresh round of tariff hikes.
Japan’s Nikkei /zigman2/quotes/210597971/delayed JP:NIK -0.60% rose 1.2%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index /zigman2/quotes/210598030/delayed HK:HSI -1.09% was about flat. The Shanghai Composite /zigman2/quotes/210598127/delayed CN:SHCOMP -0.29% gained 1.8% while the Shenzhen Composite /zigman2/quotes/210598015/delayed CN:399106 -0.34% surged 2.1%. South Korea’s Kospi /zigman2/quotes/210598069/delayed KR:180721 +0.40% rose 0.8%, while benchmark indexes in Taiwan /zigman2/quotes/210597977/delayed TW:Y9999 -0.10% , Singapore /zigman2/quotes/210597985/delayed SG:STI -0.20% , Malaysia /zigman2/quotes/210598052/delayed MY:FBMKLCI -0.37% and Indonesia /zigman2/quotes/210597981/delayed ID:JAKIDX +0.48% were mixed. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 /zigman2/quotes/210598100/delayed AU:XJO -0.51% gained 0.5%.
Among individual stocks, Subaru /zigman2/quotes/203522406/delayed JP:7270 -2.39% and SoftBank /zigman2/quotes/207303954/delayed JP:9984 -1.15% surged in Tokyo trading. Fast Retailing /zigman2/quotes/200663563/delayed JP:9983 +0.05% and Honda c /zigman2/quotes/200490352/delayed JP:7267 -2.65% advanced as well. In Hong Kong, property developer Country Garden /zigman2/quotes/201681083/delayed HK:2007 -3.41% and Volvo parent Geely Automobile /zigman2/quotes/200716015/delayed HK:175 -0.73% rose, while China Mobile /zigman2/quotes/200868736/delayed HK:941 +0.80% and Sunny Optical /zigman2/quotes/206687505/delayed HK:2382 -5.11% retreated. Samsung /zigman2/quotes/209800866/delayed KR:005930 +0.83% and SK Hynix /zigman2/quotes/206420319/delayed KR:000660 -1.13% gained in South Korea, and Apple component maker Largan Precision /zigman2/quotes/210444196/delayed TW:3008 +0.85% rose in Taiwan. In Australia, Beach Energy /zigman2/quotes/200513631/delayed AU:BPT -0.51% and Fortescue Metals /zigman2/quotes/202351558/delayed AU:FMG -1.94% jumped.
“It remains all about trade as President Donald Trump’s comments on the matter had once again been the primary driver for markets at the start of the week. Even though the sentiment had taken a positive turn on the latest update, uncertainty nevertheless persists to warrant a more cautious stance,” said Jingyi Pan, market strategist at IG in Singapore.
The S&P 500 /zigman2/quotes/210599714/realtime SPX -0.54% rose 31.27 points, or 1.1%, to 2,878.38. The Dow Jones Industrial Average /zigman2/quotes/210598065/realtime DJIA -0.11% gained 269.93 points, or 1.1%, to 25,898.83. The Nasdaq /zigman2/quotes/210598365/realtime COMP -0.84% , which is heavily weighted with technology stocks, rose 101.97 points, or 1.3%, to 7,853.74.
The major U.S. indexes are each on track for losses of 3% or more in August in what has been a volatile month for the market as investors try to gauge whether trade conflicts and slowing economies around the world will drag the U.S. into a recession.
On Friday, China announced new tariffs on $75 billion in U.S. goods. Trump responded angrily on Twitter, at one point saying he “hereby ordered” U.S. companies with operations in China to consider moving them to other countries, including the U.S.
Analysts say uncertainties are bound to remain on global markets as long as Trump continues to send conflicting messages.
“The bigger picture is that deep-seated issues are unlikely to be resolved on the flick of a switch or tweet,” said a report from the Asia & Oceania Treasury Department of Mizuho Bank.
Trump later announced the U.S. would increase existing tariffs on $250 billion in Chinese goods to 30% from 25%, and that new tariffs on another $300 billion of imports would be 15% instead of 10%.
Global markets appeared headed for another wave of selling early Monday, when indexes in Asia closed lower, until Trump said his trade negotiators had received two “very good calls” from China.
During a news conference in France after the Group of Seven industrialized nations’ meeting, Trump said “China wants to make a deal, and if we can, we will make a deal.”
Benchmark crude oil rose 37 cents to $54.01 a barrel. It fell 53 cents to settle at $53.64 a barrel. Brent crude oil , the international standard, rose 35 cents to $59.05 a barrel.
The dollar /zigman2/quotes/210561789/realtime/sampled USDJPY -0.0673% inched down to 105.78 Japanese yen from 105.88 yen on Monday.
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