World shares gain on upbeat comment on China-US trade talks

TOKYO (AP) — Global shares rose after China's top trade negotiator said over the weekend that Beijing and Washington were making progress in trade talks.

China's state-run Xinhua News Agency reported that Vice Premier Liu He told a conference in the southern city of Nanchang that the most recent trade talks with the U.S. made "substantial progress."

The negotiations were "building a foundation for signing a phased agreement," it said.

U.S. President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, agreed to hold off for now on imposing new tariffs while a deal is under discussion. Trump has said he hopes to sign a "Phase 1" agreement with Xi when the two meet at a summit next month in Chile.

Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.1% to 7,160 as uncertainties remain over the U.K.'s exit from the European Union. France's CAC 40 rose 0.2% in early trading to 5,646, while Germany's DAX gained 0.7% to 12,725.

U.S. shares were set for gains, with the Dow future contract up 0.1% at 26,780. S&P 500 futures added 0.2% to 2,995.

In Asian trading, Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 gained nearly 0.3% to finish at 22,548.90. South Korea's Kospi picked up 0.2% to 2,064.84, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng was nearly unchanged at 26,725.68. The S&P/ASX 200 in Australia inched up less than 0.1% to 6,652.50, while the Shanghai Composite also added less than 0.1% to 2,939.62.

Japan reported that its exports fell 5.2% from a year earlier in September while imports slipped 1.5%. The resulting deficit of 123 billion yen ($1.1 billion) reflected weak exports to China, South Korea and other Asian countries, customs data showed.

"Repercussions from U.S.-China trade tensions are likely to persist, and weak investment and consumer spending of the two major trading partners of Japan — could continue to weigh on exports of ordinary machinery and autos, Japan's major export products," SungHa Park of IHS Markit said in a commentary.

U.S. investors are looking ahead to more corporate earnings reports and awaiting data on housing and a report on durable goods orders later in the week.

Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to push for a vote on his European Union divorce deal as Parliament prepares for a week of guerrilla warfare over Brexit.

Johnson's office said he plans to kick things off by asking for a "straight up-and-down vote" on the EU divorce agreement on Monday, two days after lawmakers voted to delay approving the deal.

ENERGY: Benchmark crude oil fell 40 cents to $53.38 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It fell 15 cents to $53.78 a barrel on Friday. Brent crude oil, the international standard, lost 58 cents to $58.84 a barrel.

CURRENCIES: The dollar rose to 108.56 Japanese yen from 108.38 yen on Friday. The euro slipped to $1.1167 from $1.1174.