Asian Share Market Inches Up as Investors Hope for Trump-XI G20 Summit Meeting to Ease Tariff

Share markets in Asia moved higher, as investors hope that the meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping this weekend will ease the trade tensions. Yet, the profits were small and underscored the uncertainty over whether the meeting will produce a definitive outcome in putting an end to the year-long trade war between the world’s two biggest economies.

White House economic adviser, Larry Kudlow said that Trump has consented to no preconditions for the meeting, which is set to be held on Saturday at the G20 Summit in Japan, and is reiterating his warning to impose new tariffs on Chinese products.

Kudlow also set aside a Wall Street Journal report that claimed that China was requesting the lifting of sanctions on Chinese telecom equipment giant, Huawei Technologies Co Ltd., as one of the matters of a trade deal and that the Trump administration had tentatively consented to delay new tariffs on Chinese products.

“Central expectations for the G20 meeting between Trump and Xi are that negotiations will resume, additional U.S. tariffs will be delayed, China will buy more U.S. goods and talks over tech-trade will gain renewed focus,” analysts at ANZ said in a morning note. “However, as the difficulty of resolving economic aspirations between the two countries is herculean, markets remain cautious.” 

The dollar was 0.07% lower against the safe-haven yen at 107.70, and the euro edged up by 0.03% to buy $1.1371. The dollar index, which records the greenback over a basket of six major rivals, was virtually down at 96.180.

The uncertainty over worldwide trade saw gold rebound after dropping below $1,400 per ounce on Thursday. Spot gold was dealt at $1,414.72 per ounce, up 0.38%.

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