Yahoo Finance Asian Markets Rise; Chinese Stocks Gain on Trade Data
Investing.com - Asian markets rose in morning trade on Monday, with Chinese stocks gaining about 1% following the release of better-than-expected trade data for May.
The Shanghai Composite and the Shenzhen Component traded 1.0% and 0.9% higher respectively by 10:45 PM ET (02:45 GMT). Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index jumped 2.2%.
The gains in Chinese shares came after official data showed China’s overall trade surplus in May was significantly more than expected despite fears of an ongoing Sino-U.S. trade dispute. The surplus was $41.65 billion, compared with the forecasted $20.5 billion.
Despite the positive data, traders remained concerned of the impact of a worsening trade relationship between the U.S. and China, after U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told CNBC over the weekend that President Donald Trump is “perfectly happy” to impose more tariffs on China if future negotiations do not go well.
“If China wants to move forward with the deal, we’re prepared to move forward on the terms we’ve done. If China doesn’t want to move forward, then President Trump is perfectly happy to move forward with tariffs to re-balance the relationship,” Mnuchin said.
“We’re going to need to see action, and President Trump is going to need to make sure he’s clear that we’re moving in the right direction to a deal,” he added.
Trump and his China counterpart Xi Jinping are reportedly going to meet at the G-20 meeting in Japan later this month to discuss trade-related issues.
Elsewhere in Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 1.1% after Cabinet Office data showed that the country’s revised GDP grew an annualized 2.2% in January-March, stronger than expectations of a 2.1% annualized growth and the preliminary reading of the same rate of expansion.
South Korea’s KOSPI and Australia’s ASX 200 both climbed 0.9%.
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