Asian Markets In Green As US China Trade Talks Make Progress

Markets across Asia Pacific traded in the green on Wednesday as the U.S. and China said they are close to signing a phase one trade deal.

What Happened

China’s Ministry of Commerce said in a statement on Tuesday that the two countries resolved some mutual concerns over the trade deal during a phone call between their top negotiators. 

President Donald Trump expressed similar sentiments later in the day.

"We're in the final throes of a very important deal, I guess you could say one of the most important deals in trade ever. It's going very well but at the same time we want to see it go well in Hong Kong," Trump told reporters at the White House on Tuesday, according to Al Jazeera.

China has formally expressed its opposition to the U.S. lawmakers’ attempt at passing a law to ensure “sufficient autonomy” for Hong Kong from China.

At the same time, the country has signaled that it will keep the issue separate from finalizing the trade deal, as reported by the South China Morning Post.

Price Action

Here’s how the markets performed in the Asia Pacific region at press time.
In China, Shanghai Composite traded 0.082% higher, and Shenzhen Composite was up 0.015%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index (HSI) traded 0.054% down.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 added 0.45% trading, and TOPIX added 0.34%.
South Korea’s KOSPI traded 0.46% higher. Singapore’s Straits Times Index (STI) was up 0.1%.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.93%. New Zealand’s NZX 50 traded 0.69% higher.
India’s SENSEX traded 0.33% higher, and NIFTY was up 0.33%. Thailand’s SET Index was down 0.065%.