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Asian shares rose sharply on Monday, with Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index surpassing the 50,000 mark for the first time, while US futures also jumped.
The upbeat sentiment was mainly driven by progress in trade talks designed to reduce friction between the US, China and other key partners.
us President donald trumpDuring a visit to Malaysia for the Southeast Asian Summit, he secured preliminary trade agreements with Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.
Boosting optimism, officials from the world’s two largest economies confirmed on Sunday that the US-China trade deal A preliminary agreement was coming close to being finalized between Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping at a high-level meeting this weekend.
“This isn’t just photo-op diplomacy. Behind the showmanship, Washington and Beijing’s top trade lieutenants have quietly laid out a framework that could prevent the world’s two largest economies from getting off the ground again,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a comment.
Trump was going next door Japan Before ending my Asian tour south korea where is he Hope to meet Xi On the sidelines of the Pacific Rim Summit, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (known as APEC) forum.
A report released Monday by the APEC secretariat projected that annual growth in the Pacific region will slow to 3 percent this year from 3.6 percent last year, partly due to trade restrictions and higher tariffs.
In Japan, opinion polls showed the newly installed Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi It is enjoying a high level of public support for its market-friendly policies. The Nikkei 225 rose 2.1 percent to 50,329.08, hitting a record intraday high.
Takaichi is the first female Prime Minister of Japan. She favors increased defense spending and this has boosted share prices of major defense contractors such as Kawasaki Heavy Industries, which rose 8.7 percent. IHI Corp jumped 2.6 percent and Hitachi gained 2.7 percent.
Trump has long complained that American cars were locked out of Japanese markets, citing it as one of the various reasons for imposing a 25 percent tariff on America’s most important ally in Asia and then reducing it to 15 percent. So the Japanese government has come up with the idea of ​​purchasing a fleet of Ford F-150 trucks to inspect roads and infrastructure.
Shares rose in South Korea, where the Kospi was up 2 percent at 4,018.73, also a record. Investors there are hoping for a trade deal with Trump.
Similarly, solid growth was also seen in Chinese markets. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 1 percent to 26,427.34, while the Shanghai Composite Index rose 1 percent to 3,991.35.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.3 percent to 9,047.40.
Taiwan’s Taiex rose 2.1 percent and India’s Sensex rose 0.5 percent.
US stocks hit records on Friday after a slightly less painful than feared update on inflation.
The S&P 500 rose 0.8 percent to 6,791.69, surpassing its previous all-time high set earlier this month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1 percent to 47,207.12, also a record.
The Nasdaq Composite rose 1.1 percent to a record high of 23,204.87.
The data on inflation was encouraging as it could mean less pain for low- and middle-income households still struggling with high rises in prices. More importantly for Wall Street, it could also clear the way for the Federal Reserve to continue cutting interest rates in hopes of boosting the slowing job market.
The Fed cut its key interest rate last month for the first time this year, but has been hesitant to promise more relief because lower rates could make inflation worse, beyond boosting the economy and investment prices.
Most big U.S. companies reported stronger profits than analysts expected in the latest quarter, raising hopes for steady growth.
In other deals early Monday, U.S. benchmark crude oil rose 15 cents to $61.65 a barrel. Brent crude, the international benchmark, was up 12 cents at $65.32 a barrel.
The US dollar rose to 153.15 JPY from 152.85 yen. The euro slipped to $1.1622 from $1.1636.