Stocks in Asia on Friday slipped on below-average volumes ahead of the highly anticipated US-China presidential meeting yesterday.
Losses were steepest in Shanghai, with indices in Tokyo, Hong Kong and Sydney posting moderate declines.
The meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in Osaka, Japan was the key event for markets.
Trump yesterday said he eased restrictions on Huawei Technologies Co (華為) as part of a trade truce with Beijing, removing an immediate threat looming over the global economy even as a lasting peace remains elusive.
Trump said Xi had promised to buy “tremendous” amounts of US agricultural products in exchange.
“We’re going to give them a list of things we’d like them to buy,” Trump said at a news conference after the meeting.
On the final trading day of the month and quarter on Friday, global equities were sitting on gains of almost 6 percent for this month and bonds were on course for the best month of this year amid expectations that central banks will loosen policy to arrest an economic slowdown.
“Potential disappointment has risen as markets have priced in what we call a can-kick” in US-China talks, TPW Investment Management chief investment officer Jay Pelosky said.
Even so, continued negotiations along with central bank easing and a bottoming in the global slowdown “is going to be constructive for risk assets in the second half.”
In Taipei, shares on Friday closed down 43.07 points, or 0.4 percent, at 10,730.83, down 1 percent for the week.
Japan’s TOPIX on Friday fell 0.3 percent and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index dipped 0.5 percent.
Hong Kong stocks ended Friday and the week lower, paring some of their monthly gains ahead of the Trump-Xi meeting.
At the close of trade, the Hang Seng index was down 0.3 percent at 28,542.62 points, but was up 0.2 percent for the week.
The benchmark ended up 6.1 percent month-on-month, underpinned by upbeat trade developments earlier this month.
The Hang Seng China Enterprises index ended 0.1 percent lower on Friday, down 0.4 percent for the week.
The sub-index of the Hang Seng tracking energy shares ended down 0.7 percent, the IT sector closed 0.1 percent lower, the financial sector ended flat and the property sector dropped 0.5 percent.
On Friday, Xi criticized some developed countries for taking protectionist measures that are leading to trade conflicts and economic blockade — calling them the biggest risk of the increase in instability in the global economy.
Additional reporting by CNA
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