Asian shares were mixed yesterday following broad gains on Wall Street, as investors pondered mixed reports on the likelihood of progress in resolving the US-China trade dispute.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 added 0.3 percent to 21,509.54 in early trading. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 lost nearly 0.1 percent to 6,543.40, while South Korea’s KOSPI lost 0.8 percent to 2,029.23.
India’s SENSEX skidded 0.4 percent to 38,050.81. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng picked up 0.2 percent to 25,726.60, while the Shanghai Composite rose 0.2 percent to 2,930.35.
Shares fell in Singapore and Thailand, but rose in Jakarta.
“Updates on US-China trade keep their grip on markets as we await the commencement of trade talks going into Thursday,” said Jingyi Pan, market strategist at IG in Singapore.
A day after escalating trade tensions led to a sharp sell-off, investors drew encouragement from reports that Beijing signaled it was open to a partial deal.
Washington and Beijing were yesterday scheduled to begin a 13th round of trade negotiations.
A report by the Hong Kong newspaper South China Morning Post saying that preliminary talks for the meetings did not go well doused some of that enthusiasm.
Washington and Beijing had held off from further escalating the conflict up until this week, when the US blacklisted a group of Chinese technology companies over alleged human rights violations.
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