Asian markets are growing on the Trump/Kim Jong-Un summit

Asian shares were higher in muted trading Wednesday as investors awaited the second summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Vietnam. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 added 0.5% in early trading. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.3% and South Korea’s Kospi edged up nearly 0.2%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.5%, while the Shanghai Composite index gained 0.9%.

Kim and Trump both arrived in Hanoi on Tuesday and their Hanoi meetings get underway later in the day Wednesday. The two leaders first met last June in Singapore, a summit that was long on historic pageantry but short in any enforceable agreements for North Korea to give up its nuclear arsenal. Trump and Kim are to have a private dinner Wednesday evening and discussions on Thursday in hopes of building on an aspirational agreement they made in Singapore.

U.S. stock indexes capped a day of wobbly trading with slight losses Tuesday, erasing some of their modest gains from a day earlier. The market changed course several times during the day as investors balanced conflicting U.S. economic data and testimony from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. The S&P 500 dropped 2.21 points, or 0.1%, to 2,793.90. The benchmark index, which has finished higher the past four weeks in a row, broke a two-day winning streak. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 33.97 points, or 0.1%, to 26,057.98. The Nasdaq composite slid 5.16 points, or 0.1%, to 7,549.30.

Asian markets rise as Trump, Kim set to meet, MarketWatch, Feb 27