Asia markets were largely positive on Thursday morning as the U.S. attempts to restart negotiations with China on trade.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 was among the biggest gainers in the morning, rising by 1.05 percent in early hours trade, while South Korea’s Kospi also rose by 0.16 percent.
Down Under, however, the ASX 200 bucked the trend to trade 0.12 percent lower in the early hours of trading, as the utilities sector slid by 1.3 percent.
The U.S. was in the early stages of proposing a new round of trade talks with China in the near future, sources familiar with the matter told CNBC on Wednesday. This came after Dow Jones reported earlier that senior U.S. officials led by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin had sent an invitation to Chinese officials requesting for a “ministerial-level delegation” to attend the trade discussions.
Following the news, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 saw small gains for the trading day stateside. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed by 27.86 points to close at 25,998.92, while the S&P 500 saw a slight gain of 0.04 percent to end the day at 2,888.92. The Nasdaq Composite, however, closed 0.2 percent lower at 7,954.23 on the back of a fall in tech stocks.
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of currencies, was at 94.808 as of 8:11 a.m. HK/SIN, off its high from yesterday.
The Japanese yen was largely flat against the dollar at 111.30 yen, while the Australian dollar largely held on to its overnight gains on the positive U.S.-China trade news by trading at $0.7174, as of 8:14 a.m. HK/SIN.
Overnight in the oil markets, futures contracts rose on the back of a greater-than-expected fall in U.S. crude inventories, with impending sanctions by Washington on Tehran continuing to weigh on concerns over its potential impact on global crude supply.
In Asia morning trade, oil prices saw a mild pullback form yesterday’s rally. The global benchmark Brent crude futures contract was lower by 0.11 percent at $79.65 per barrel, while U.S. crude futures also fell by 0.23 percent at $70.21 a barrel.
Here is a look at economic data due to come out during the trading day:
- Australia — jobs data at 9:30 a.m. HK/SIN
— CNBC’s Fred Imbert and Tae Kim, along with Reuters, contributed to this report.
