Shanghai — Asian equity markets surged on Thursday on signs of easing China-US trade tensions and the expectation that China will step up efforts soon to support its cooling economy. After a quiet start, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up more than 1% by midday, building on early gains made after British Prime Minister Theresa May survived a no-confidence vote. Regional gains were concentrated in Chinese shares, with Chinese blue-chips up 1.9% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index gaining 1.4%. Japan’s Nikkei stock index was 1% higher, while Australian shares gained 0.4%. US stock futures rose 0.5%, pointing to a firmer opening on Wall Street. Markets are slowly growing less pessimistic about the chances of a China-US trade deal after a slew of news this week pointed to easing tensions between the two powers. Reuters reported on Wednesday that Chinese state-owned companies have bought more than 1.5-million tons of US soybeans in the first major US soybean pu...
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