Asian Stocks Talking Points:
- Mainboards were higher across the region
- Hopes are high that US/China negotiations will at leas bear tangible fruit
- The Australian Dollar gained on overall risk appetite and stronger domestic numbers
Find out what retail foreign exchange investors make of your favorite currency’s chances right now at the DailyFX Sentiment Page
Asia Pacific stock markets rose on Wednesday as hopes endured that China and the US might be close to a trade settlement.
A report in the Financial Times quoted a vice president of the US Chamber of Commerce saying that a deal was 90% done. White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said the two countries expect to make headway at this week’s talks, which start on Wednesday.
Sure enough, the Nikkei 225 rose by 1%, with the Shanghai Composite up by 0.5%. The Hang Seng added 1.1% and Sydney’s ASX 200 0.7%.
Foreign exchange markets saw a similar revival of risk appetite with the Australian Dollar doing well at the expense of perceived havens such as the Japanese Yen. The Aussie also got a boost from domestic numbers showing that retail sales and the trade surplus had both beaten expectations.
Indeed, AUD/USD has been lifted back into the uptrend channel which it abandoned on Tuesday for the first time following a rather dovish economic roundup from the Reserve Bank of Australia.
Output at China’s smaller, private service sector firms reached a fourteen-month high in March according to the Purchasing Managers Index from media group Caixin.
Crude oil prices looked set for a fourth straight day of gains as investors mulled the possibility of higher demand in the event of a trade deal. Gold prices were steady as a modest pullback for the US Dollar offset the dampening effects of revived risk appetite.
Still to come on Wednesday are various PMI data from around Europe and the US, with official Crude Oil inventory levels from the Department of Energy also due.
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--- Written by David Cottle, DailyFX Research
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