AFP, Hong Kong :
Asian markets mostly rose Wednesday as they await this weekend’s high-stakes meeting between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping, but dealers remain cautious with the threat of an escalation in the trade war if the pair fail to reach a deal.
Also on the radar is a speech by Federal Reserve boss Jerome Powell, which will be pored over for signs of an easing in its pace of interest rate hikes after his deputy hinted at gradual rises and Trump hit out at recent increases.
Wall Street provided a positive lead following soothing comments from top White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow on the chances of a trade deal when the leaders of the world’s top two economies meet Saturday.
“The president said there’s a good possibility we can make a deal and he’s open to it but certain conditions have to be met, certain things have to be changed,” Kudlow told a White House briefing.
The remarks came a day after the president warned that if he cannot reach a deal with Xi he expects to increase tariffs on $250 billion of Chinese goods and impose levies on all the other goods the US imports from the country.
While observers do not expect a wide-ranging deal to be made at the meeting, which takes place on the sidelines of a G20 summit in Buenos Aires, there is the possibility of an agreement that will allow the two to reach a consensus down the line.
“It will depend a lot about the kind of comments that will come out after the meeting,” Massimiliano Bondurri, founder and chief executive officer of SGMC Capital in Singapore, told Bloomberg TV.
“We don’t expect anything saying a deal will never be found, we expect some formal comments will be made as in discussions will be ongoing, but we haven’t found any agreement as of yet, so that’s likely to weigh on the risk sentiment on global markets.”
In early trade Hong Kong and Shanghai were each up 0.9 percent while Tokyo rallied 1.1 percent.
Sydney eased 0.2 percent and Singapore dropped 0.1 percent but Seoul was
0.1 percent higher while Wellington, Taipei, Mumbai and Jakarta were all slightly stronger.
Asian markets mostly rose Wednesday as they await this weekend’s high-stakes meeting between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping, but dealers remain cautious with the threat of an escalation in the trade war if the pair fail to reach a deal.
Also on the radar is a speech by Federal Reserve boss Jerome Powell, which will be pored over for signs of an easing in its pace of interest rate hikes after his deputy hinted at gradual rises and Trump hit out at recent increases.
Wall Street provided a positive lead following soothing comments from top White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow on the chances of a trade deal when the leaders of the world’s top two economies meet Saturday.
“The president said there’s a good possibility we can make a deal and he’s open to it but certain conditions have to be met, certain things have to be changed,” Kudlow told a White House briefing.
The remarks came a day after the president warned that if he cannot reach a deal with Xi he expects to increase tariffs on $250 billion of Chinese goods and impose levies on all the other goods the US imports from the country.
While observers do not expect a wide-ranging deal to be made at the meeting, which takes place on the sidelines of a G20 summit in Buenos Aires, there is the possibility of an agreement that will allow the two to reach a consensus down the line.
“It will depend a lot about the kind of comments that will come out after the meeting,” Massimiliano Bondurri, founder and chief executive officer of SGMC Capital in Singapore, told Bloomberg TV.
“We don’t expect anything saying a deal will never be found, we expect some formal comments will be made as in discussions will be ongoing, but we haven’t found any agreement as of yet, so that’s likely to weigh on the risk sentiment on global markets.”
In early trade Hong Kong and Shanghai were each up 0.9 percent while Tokyo rallied 1.1 percent.
Sydney eased 0.2 percent and Singapore dropped 0.1 percent but Seoul was
0.1 percent higher while Wellington, Taipei, Mumbai and Jakarta were all slightly stronger.
