Asian Markets Rise; Investors’ Focuses Turn to Sino-U.S. Trade Developments

Investing.com - Asian markets gained in morning trade on Friday. Investors’ focuses turned to the Sino-U.S. trade developments following a slew of monetary policy decisions this week.

China’s Shanghai Composite and the Shenzhen Component edged up 0.1% and 0.3% respectively by 10:30 PM ET (02:30 GMT). Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index traded 0.3% higher.

Junior level officials from China and the U.S. will reportedly meet next week, while higher level officials including Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer will gather in Washington in early October for further negotiations.

Hu Xijin, editor-in-chief of Chinese state media Global Times, tweeted overnight that China is “not as anxious to reach a deal as the US side thought.”

Meanwhile, the People’s Bank of China cut its new loan prime rates (LPR) to 4.2%, compared to 4.25% a month. The 5-year loan prime rate was unchanged at 4.85%.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 0.6%. The country’s consumer inflation rose 0.5% in August from a year earlier, slowing from a 0.6% gain in July and represented the slowest pace of increase since July 2017.

The Bank of Japan trimmed its bond purchase program today after governor Haruhiko Kuroda said in a briefing on Thursday that he would like to see a steeper yield curve.

South Korea’s KOSPI climbed 0.2%.

Down under, Australia’s ASX 200 advanced 0.6%.

In the U.S., Friday will be a busy time across the markets as the as quarterly expiration of futures and options on indexes and stocks occur on the same day

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