Chinese stocks rise after the holidays on a trade deal hopes

Asian stocks were mostly higher on Monday as traders watched for developments on a fresh round of trade talks between American and Chinese officials in Beijing this week. Markets in China and Taiwan, reopening after a weeklong Lunar New Year break, posted broad gains.

The Shanghai Composite index SHCOMP, +1.36%  surged 1.4%, while the smaller-cap Shenzhen Composite 399106, +2.90%   jumped 2%. The Kospi SEU, +0.17% in South Korea gained 0.1% while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng HSI, +0.71%   rose 0.7%. Australia’s S&P ASX 200 XJO, -0.18% slipped 0.2%. Stocks rose in Taiwan Y9999, +0.72% but fell in Singapore STI, +0.13%   and Indonesia JAKIDX, -0.23% . Japanese markets were closed for a holiday.

Gains by technology and consumer goods companies led most U.S. indexes higher on Friday. They more than balanced out losses by financial stocks and retailers after a mixed bag of quarterly earnings. The broad S&P 500 index SPX, +0.07%   climbed 0.1% to 2,707.88 and the Nasdaq composite COMP, +0.14% rose 0.1% to 7,298.20. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -0.25% lost 0.3% to 25,106.33.

Officials from the U.S. and China will gather in Beijing for trade talks on Thursday and Friday. U.S. Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin and trade representative Robert Lighthizer will lead the American delegation at the talks, which are aimed at bringing both sides closer to resolving deep-seated issues such as unhappiness over Beijing’s technology policy. Lower-level negotiations are set to begin Monday, but a resolution isn’t expected before a truce on tariffs expires in early March. Any agreement before then, or a simple extension of the truce, will be viewed as a positive for markets. If not, the U.S. is expected to raise import taxes from 10% to 25% on $200 billion in Chinese goods.

China stocks climb after holiday break, driven by trade-deal hopes, MarketWatch, Feb 11