Shanghai leads gains in Asia as China-U.S. talks resume

Annabelle Liang, The Associated Press
Published Thursday, March 28, 2019 11:42PM EDT
Last Updated Friday, March 29, 2019 3:10AM EDT

SINGAPORE -- Mainland Chinese markets led Asian indexes higher on Friday, as the U.S. and China kicked off a fresh round of trade talks in Beijing.

The Shanghai Composite index advanced 2.9 per cent to 3,081.11 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng jumped 1 per cent to 29,055.99. South Korea's Kospi gained 0.6 per cent to 2,140.67.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 0.8 per cent to 21,205.81. The country's retail sales fell slightly in February from a month earlier, preliminary data showed. But industrial production rose 1.4 per cent after a 3.4 per cent decline in January. The unemployment rate beat market expectations, falling to 2.3 per cent in February from 2.5 per cent in the previous month.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 edged 0.1 per cent higher to 6,180.70. Shares rose in Taiwan and most of Southeast Asia.

U.S. negotiators, led by Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, attended a working dinner Thursday night with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, who is expected to travel to Washington next week.

The three of them posed for a photo at a government guesthouse before negotiations resumed on Friday but did not talk to reporters.

"Investors' eyes will be glued to news feeds looking for any more details -- rumoured or true -- emerging from the talks. This could cause some abrupt intra-day volatility across the markets," Jeffrey Halley, a senior market analyst at OANDA said in a market commentary.

News about the talks was read as largely positive by the markets. At a speech in Washington on Thursday, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said the U.S. administration was prepared to continue trade negotiations with China for weeks or even months. This was taken as a sign of commitment to reaching a deal.

On Wall Street, traders shrugged off a discouraging announcement by the Commerce Department. It said U.S. economic growth had slowed sharply in the last three months of 2018 to an annual rate of just 2.2 per cent, due to weakness in consumer spending, business investment, government spending and housing.

Most indexes finished higher, as bond yields rose and financial, technology and industrial stocks climbed. The broad S&P 500 index was 0.4 per cent higher at 2,815.44. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also gained 0.4 per cent to 25,717.46. The Nasdaq composite rose 0.3 per cent to 7,669.17 and the Russell 2000 index of smaller company stocks picked up 0.8 per cent to 1,535.10.

ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude added 31 cents to $59.61 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It lost 11 cents to settle at $59.30 per barrel on Thursday. Brent crude, used to price international oils, edged up 30 cents to $67.40 per barrel. The contract shed 14 cents to $67.10 per barrel in London.

CURRENCIES: The dollar strengthened to 110.68 yen from 110.63 yen. The euro rose to $1.1231 from $1.1221.

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AP Business Writer Alex Veiga contributed to this report.

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