Asian stocks rose on Tuesday after Wall Street rebounded on the first day of the trading week amid a slight easing in trade tensions.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 rose 1.06 percent. The broader Topix gained 1.17 percent, as all sectors, with the exception of the mining, oil and coal subindexes, advanced.
Seoul’s Kospi also gained in the early going. The benchmark added 0.62 percent as automakers and financials rose, but index heavyweight Samsung Electronics slipped 0.24 percent.
Steelmakers were mixed after South Korea said its steelmakers would face U.S. quotas on imports, but not tariffs: Posco popped 2.74 percent, but Hyundai Steel and Seah Steel lost 0.59 percent and 3.69 percent, respectively.
Elsewhere, the ASX 200 rose 0.53 percent as most sectors posted gains in the early going. Gold producers, however, slipped 0.42 percent.
Several Hong Kong-listed corporates are due to report on the earnings front, including BYD, Fosun International and AAC Technologies. On the mainland, ICBC and China Construction Bank are also slated to announce results.
Trade tensions faded slightly on Monday, with U.S. Trade Representative Peter Navarro saying that he was “hopeful” China would work with the U.S. to address trade-related issues, although he defended the Trump administration’s move to impose tariffs of up to $60 billion on Chinese imports.
Meanwhile, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said during a Monday conference that the two countries should “stick to negotiations” to resolve their differences. China has reportedly offered to purchase U.S. semiconductors in a bid to alleviate its trade surplus with the U.S., according to the Financial Times.
Those moves followed a ramp up in trade-related tensions after Trump first signed off on tariffs against steel and aluminum imports earlier in the month. China responded to those tariffs on Friday when it proposed a list of 128 U.S. products it could potentially target.
U.S. stocks more than reversed losses seen on Friday as fears over trade tensions seen last week eased: The Dow Jones industrial average rose 2.84 percent, or 669.40 points, to close at 24,202.60, recording its largest one-day percentage gain since August 2015.
Also of note, Australia on Tuesday announced it would expel two Russian diplomats in solidarity with the U.K. and other allies following a nerve agent attack that took place on British soil.
In currencies, the dollar slipped against a basket of rivals as investor sentiment improved. The dollar index edged was steady at 89.023 at 8: 11 a.m. HK/SIN, after touching a five-week low in the previous session.
Against the safe-haven yen, the dollar extended gains to trade at 105.55, after slipping below the 105 handle last week.
Of note, the euro held onto gains after bouncing overnight following comments from European Central Bank member Jens Weidmann that expectations for an interest rate hike toward the middle of 2019 were “not completely unrealistic,” Reuters reported. The euro last traded at $1.2455.
Here’s the economic calendar for Tuesday (all times in HK/SIN):
- 9:30 a.m.: China industrial profits
- 10:30 a.m.: Taiwan consumer confidence
- 4:30 p.m.: Hong Kong trade data
