Asian markets were mixed in early trading Tuesday, as investors grew wary as they waited for more details about last week’s agreement for a partial trade deal between the U.S. and China.
Doubts emerged Monday amid reports that Chinese officials wanted more talks before signing the so-called “phase one” deal. U.S. tariff hikes on about $160 billion in Chinese goods, scheduled to take effect in December, are apparently still on track, although tariff hikes on $250 billion of Chinese goods that were to take effect this week were postponed. A more comprehensive trade deal will come in three phases, President Donald Trump said, with the mode divisive issues to be tackled at a later date.
Japan’s Nikkei NIK, +1.77% surged 1.7% as traders returned from a holiday Monday. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index HSI, -0.08% was about flat, while the Shanghai Composite SHCOMP, -0.53% slipped 0.5% and the Shenzhen Composite 399106, -0.99% dipped 1%. South Korea’s Kospi 180721, +0.10% edged up 0.2%, and benchmark indexes in Taiwan Y9999, +0.35% , Singapore STI, -0.05% , Malaysia FBMKLCI, -0.09% and Indonesia JAKIDX, -0.01% were mostly up. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 XJO, +0.07% inched down 0.1%.
Among individual stocks, SoftBank 9984, +2.77% gained in Tokyo trading, along with Toyota 7203, +1.13% and Fast Retailing 9983, +2.47% . In Hong Kong, China Resources Land 1109, +0.71% rose while CNOOC 883, -1.17% and WH Group 288, -1.55% declined. Taiwan Semiconductor 2330, +1.55% rose in Taiwan, while Beach Energy BPT, -1.87% and BHP BHP, -1.37% fell in Australia.
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