Optimism around US-China talks fuel Asian shares
Equities rise as a report of progress in trade talks stirs hope of a deal in the tariff dispute between the US and China
Tokyo — Asian stocks advanced on Friday as a report of progress in US-China trade talks stirred hopes of a deal in their tariff dispute and supported risk sentiment. The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that US treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin discussed lifting some or all tariffs imposed on Chinese imports and suggested offering a tariff rollback during trade discussions scheduled for January 30. US stocks rallied following the report, but pared some of those gains after a treasury spokesperson told CNBC that Mnuchin had not made any such recommendations. WSJ also reported that US trade representative Robert Lighthizer has resisted Mnuchin’s idea. For the day, all three major US indices were up, led by a surge in industrial stocks. Even the whiff of progress in the months-long China-US trade war helped boost risk sentiment. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan added 0.7%. The index has gained 1.4% this week. The Shanghai Composite Index was up 0.8%. A...
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