Asian shares experienced a rise on Friday, September 6, following plans for further US-China trade negotiation, as well as positive U.S. economic numbers.
Zhu Huani of the Asia & Oceania Treasury Department of Mizuho Bank said “Indeed it is a positive sign that meetings will take place at multiple levels," referring to US-China trade talks between the two nations. He added “As limited progress is expected, there will still be many twists and turns along the way and hurdle for more good news is substantially higher. Therefore, we think the rally could be short-lived without more breakthroughs."
The Shanghai Composite slightly increased by 0.1% to 2,988.52 while Hong Kong's Hang Seng went up by 0.3% to 26,599.48. South Korea's Kospi gained by 0.2% to 2,008.28 while Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 surged by 0.5% to 21,189.48. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 had a similar increase of 0.5% to 6,648.80.
In the U.S., the Dow Jones Industrial Average experienced an increase of almost 400 points to 26,728.15 and bond yields went up while gold prices fell down as investors become more willing to take on risks. The S&P 500 tallied an increase of 1.3% or 38.22 points to 2,976, which was just 1.7% lower of the most recent all-time high recorded in late July. The Russell 2000 index and the Nasdaq both recorded increases of 1.8%, with traders favoring smaller company stocks.
The longstanding trade war between the world's two largest economies have been affecting the markets recently. On Sunday, September 1, the U.S. imposed 15% tariffs on $112 billion of Chinese imports while China implement duties of 10% and 5% on various American imports. The U.S. is planning to impose the tariffs to another $160 billion Chinese imports on December 15.
Meanwhile, positive U.S. economic data are also boosting Asian shares. Payroll processor ADP released a report revealing that U.S. businesses added 195,000 jobs in August, which was way beyond forecasts by economists. Also, the U.S. Labor Department reported a surge of 2.3% in overall productivity during the second quarter.
