· World stocks inched ahead to a record high on Thursday after the United States and China signed an initial deal to defuse their 18-month trade war, though financial markets were wary as a number of thorny issues remained unresolved.
MSCI’s broadest index of world stocks firmed 0.03% in Asia after closing at record level on Wednesday while its index on Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.13%, with India and Australia hitting record highs.
Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.14% while mainland China’s Shanghai composite index was almost flat. Pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 futures were up 0.03% and German DAX futures ticked up 0.1% in early trade.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He on Wednesday signed a deal that will roll back some tariffs and see China boost purchases of U.S. goods and services by $200 billion over two years.
“Whether somebody looks at this as big progress or little progress, it is something tangible and so the arrow is pointing in a direction that the market is comfortable with,” said Chuck Carlson, chief executive officer of Horizon Investment Services at Hammond, Indiana in the United States.
· Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei index closed marginally higher in thin trade today following the signing of a trade agreement between the US and China that pushed Wall Street to record highs.
The Nikkei 225 index added 0.07 per cent, or 16.55 points, to 23,933.13, but the broader Topix index lost 0.14 per cent, or 2.34 points, to 1,728.72.
The Nikkei opened higher after investors cheered gains on Wall Street overnight after the world's two largest economies agreed on the trade deal after almost two years of bitter dispute.
“But since the signing of the US-China deal has ended, investors remained on the sidelines, looking for fresh trading factors,” said Toshikazu Horiuchi, a broker at IwaiCosmo Securities.
“Now investors are waiting for Japanese corporate results, which will be announced starting later this month,” Horiuchi told AFP.
· Chinese stocks, which also have rallied on optimism over a trade truce, showed little further enthusiasm on the deal’s signing. While the agreement has helped bolster shaky business confidence, it is only expected to give a modest boost to the cooling economy.
The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index, which has gained 7.6% since the end of November, stalled after opening higher and was 0.28% lower at the midday break. The blue-chip CSI300 index fell 0.30%.
· European stocks opened slightly higher on Thursday morning as reaction appeared muted to the signing of a partial trade deal between the U.S. and China.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 climbed 0.2% in early deals, tech and retail stocks adding 0.5% to lead gains as all sectors except travel and leisure and telecoms entered positive territory.
Reference: Reuters, CNBC
Thai
Eng