Asian stocks climb as hopes rise for US-China trade breakthrough
Asian shares edged mostly higher on Tuesday as investors closely monitored ongoing trade negotiations between the United States and China, which could ease economic tensions and help avert a potential recession.
A second day of talks was planned after U.S. and Chinese officials met in London for negotiations over various issues, News.Az reports, citing foreign media.
The hope is that they can eventually reach a deal to reduce painfully high tariffs against each other. Most of the tariff hikes imposed since U.S. President Donald Trump escalated his trade war are paused to allow trade in everything from tiny tech gadgets to enormous machinery to continue.
In Asian trading, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 gained 1% to 38,473.97, while the Kospi in South Korea jumped 0.9% to 2,881.40.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng edged 0.2% higher, to 24,242.03 and the Shanghai Composite index was up 0.1% at 3,403.51. In Taiwan, the Taiex surged 2%.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 advanced 0.7% to 8,578.50.
On Monday, the S&P 500 edged up just 0.1% and at 6,005.88 is within 2.3% of its record set in February. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped by 1 point, which is well below 0.1%, to 42,761.76.
The Nasdaq composite added 0.3% to 19,591.24.
Hopes that President Donald Trump will lower his tariffs after reaching trade deals with countries around the world have helped the S&P 500 has rally back after it dropped roughly 20% from its record two months ago. It’s back above where it was when Trump shocked financial markets in April with his wide-ranging tariff announcement on what he called “Liberation Day.”
Some of the market’s biggest moves came from the announcement of big buyout deals. Qualcomm rallied 4.1% after saying it agreed to buy Alphawave Semi in a deal valued at $2.4 billion. IonQ, meanwhile, rose 2.7% after the quantum computing and networking company said it agreed to purchase Oxford Ionics for nearly $1.08 billion.
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