Trade hope helps Asian markets bounce back from sell-off

Aug 27, 2019: Asian markets rose Tuesday, recovering from the previous day's pounding, after Donald Trump said China-US trade talks would resume soon, though the president's sharp changes in tone are keeping investors on edge.

Regional equities tanked and the yuan plunged Monday in response to news at the weekend that Washington would hike tariffs on more than half-a-trillion dollars of Chinese imports after Beijing unveiled levies on tens of billions of US goods.

Trump's call for US firms to pull out of China and comments about not needing the country added to the sense of dread that the trade war would deepen and run for some time.

However, investors who had run to the hills in the morning returned in later trade after he said in a G7 news conference in France that negotiations would resume very soon and Beijing had telephoned saying it wanted to strike a deal.

He later described the talks as “more meaningful than at any time”, while China's top negotiator called for calm and said he opposed any escalation in the stand off.

While the remarks were too late to fuel a meaningful recovery in Asia, stocks in Europe and the US rallied.

But in early trade Tuesday, Shanghai and Tokyo were up more than one percent, Sydney put on 0.3 percent and Seoul added 0.8 percent. Hong Kong added 0.1 percent.

Singapore, Wellington, Taipei and Jakarta were also up.

There was also a pick-up in higher-yielding, riskier assets such as the South Korean won, South African rand and Australian dollar, with gold — a go-to in times of turmoil — slightly down.

AFP/APP

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