Yahoo Finance Asian Equities Mixed as Trade Talks Loom; Chinese Markets Return
Investing.com - Asian equities were mixed in morning trade on Monday ahead of another round of U.S.-China trade negotiations in Beijing this week.
China’s stock exchanges reopened after the week-long Lunar New Year holidays. The Shanghai Composite rose 0.9%, while the Shenzhen Component jumped 2.3% by 10:12 PM ET (03:12 GMT).
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index edged up 0.1%.
Sino-U.S. trade tension is expected to be in focus again this week as Chinese Vice Premier Liu He joins U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer in Beijing for high-level trade talks.
Hopes of reaching a trade before a March 1 deadline were dented last week after U.S. President Donald Trump said he would not meet his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping before the deadline.
If the deadline passes without a deal, Trump has said he could follow through on his threat to increase tariffs on as much as $200 billion worth of Chinese goods to 25% from 10%.
Elsewhere, South Korea’s KOSPI slipped 0.1%. Down under, Australia’s ASX 200 slipped 0.4%.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 is closed for a holiday.
While not a major directional driver, official data showed China's retail and catering enterprises earned over 1 trillion yuan ($148.3 billion) during the Lunar New Year holiday.
Domestic tourism during the new year break generated total revenues of CNY 513.9 billion, up 8.2% on the year, with the number of trips rising 7.6% to 415 million, state-owned Xinhua said citing official data.
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