Yahoo Finance Asian Equities Rise as Trump Says Deal with China Still Possible
Investing.com - Asian stocks rebounded in morning trade on Friday amid renewed hopes for a China-U.S. trade agreement after U.S. President Donald Trump said a deal is still possible.
The Shanghai Composite and the Shenzhen Component rose 1.4% and 2.3% respectively. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 0.6%.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 edged down 0.1% after data showed the country’s household spending rose more than expected in March but real wages slumped the most since 2015.
South Korea’s KOSPI traded 0.2% higher.
Down under, Australia’s ASX 200 was unchanged at 6,294.85.
Overnight, Trump said China President Xi Jinping wrote him “a beautiful letter” and that he will “probably speak to him by phone."
"Let's work together, let's get something done," Trump said, describing the letter.
He then said his his administration might reverse its decision to hike tariffs on Chinese goods depending on progress in this week’s negotiations, although tariffs are an "excellent" alternative to a trade deal.
"It's an alternative I've spoken about for years. We'll take in well over a hundred billion dollars a year. We never took in 10 cents from China," Trump said, referring to additional tariffs he promised to impose. "And I think it'll be a very strong day, frankly. But we'll see."
Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin kicked off two days of talks on Thursday in Washington. Officials have ended their Thursday session and are set to continue Friday, Reuters reported.
Ma Jun, a Chinese central bank advisor said in an article published by the Finance News, a state-owned paper run by the central bank, that U.S tariffs could cut China's GDP growth by 0.3%.
"The negative impact of this scenario on China's gross domestic production would be around 0.3 percentage points, this is within a controllable range," he said.
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