Asian stocks advanced to 4-1/2-month highs on Wednesday as investors bet that Chinese and U.S. trade negotiators would be able to secure a deal to de-escalate their year-long tariff war.
Asian Stocks
- MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose nearly 1.0 percent.
- Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 1.1.
- Chinese shares rose 0.4 percent.
- Japan’s Nikkei gained 0.75 percent to two-month highs.
- Chinese shares rose 0.4 percent.
- S&P 500 gained 0.15 percent.
- The Nasdaq rose 0.19 percent.
Currency Market
- In the currency market, the euro traded at $1.1350.
- The dollar gained 0.2 percent to 110.80 yen.
- The British pound soared to $1.3063 on Tuesday, gaining 1.09 percent.
- The Chinese yuan rose more than 0.5 percent to 6.7243 per dollar
Commodities
- U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures were at $56.01 per barrel.
- International Brent crude futures stood at $66.33 per barrel,
- Gold rose 0.4 percent to 10-month highs of $1,346.50.
- Palladium rose 1.4 percent to yet another record high.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that trade talks with China were going well and suggested he was open to pushing off the deadline to complete negotiations, saying March 1 was not a “magical” date. U.S. tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports are currently scheduled to rise to 25 percent from 10 percent if no trade deal is reached by March 1.
