Manila, Oct 30 (AP) World shares mostly retreated Thursday in choppy trading after President Donald Trump’s meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
While Trump said the meeting was “amazing” and had resolved many issues, investors appeared sceptical. US futures were nearly flat.
In early European trading, Germany’s Dax rose 0.1 per cent to 24,155.02. Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 0.5 per cent to 9,705.49. In Paris, the CAC 40 slid 0.2 per cent to 8,183.55.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index bounced lower and then inched up less than 0.1 per cent to 51,325.61 after the Bank of Japan kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged.
Chinese markets gave up early gains, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shedding 0.2 per cent to 26,282.69. The Shanghai Composite index lost 0.7 per cent to 3,986.90.
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority on Thursday cut its base rate by 25 basis points to 4.25 per cent. It always follows the US lead in interest rate policies since the value of Hong Kong’s currency is linked to the US dollar.
South Korea’s Kospi index broke through the 4,000 mark for the first time, edging up 0.1 per cent to 4,086.89 after climbing more than 1 per cent earlier in the day following reports of progress in Washington’s trade talks with South Korea. Solid corporate earnings also boosted shares in tech, auto and shipbuilding.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 shed nearly 0.5 per cent to 8,885.50, pulled lower by losses in real estate and consumer discretionary stocks.
Taiwan’s Taiex dropped less than 0.1 per cent while India’s BSE Sensex shed nearly 0.7 per cent.
Trump told reporters he was cutting average tariffs on Chinese goods to 47 per cent from 57 per cent, effective immediately after his first face-to-face meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in six years. He cited progress by Beijing in curbing exports of fentanyl and the chemicals used to make it.
Trump also said China was keeping its policy of tighter restrictions on exports of rare earths and related technologies on hold for a year, and he expects that agreement to be extended. Trump’s aggressive use of tariffs since returning to the White House for a second term, combined with China’s retaliatory limits on exports of rare earth elements, has given the meeting newfound urgency.
The first official Chinese comment on the meeting suggested that no deal is not done.
Xi noted that negotiating teams from both countries had reached a consensus, a likely reference to talks held in Malaysia last weekend, according to a report on the meeting distributed by state media.
The Chinese leader said the teams should complete follow-up work as soon as possible to deliver tangible results that will provide “peace of mind” to China, the US and the rest of the world.
Xi, stressing that dialogue is better than confrontation, listed a range of issues where China and the US could work together, including combating illegal immigration and telecom fraud, anti-money laundering efforts, artificial intelligence and infectious disease response.
The encounter was a chance for the leaders of the world’s two largest economies to stabilise relations after months of turmoil over trade issues.
On Wednesday, US stocks bounced around their records after the Federal Reserve made moves to boost the job market but also warned that more help isn’t guaranteed.
The S&P 500 finished virtually flat and edged down by less than 0.1 per cent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 73 points, or 0.2 per cent, and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.5 per cent. All three indices were coming off an all-time high.
Stocks had been on track for modest gains in the afternoon after the Fed cut its main interest rate for the second time this year in hopes of helping the slowing job market. But the market snapped lower after Chair Jerome Powell later warned that it “is not a foregone conclusion” that the Fed will cut again in December at its next meeting, “far from it.” “That needs to be taken off the board,” Powell said.
In the meantime, the deluge of big US companies reporting how much profit they made during the summer, and the frenzy in AI technology is driving growth. The pressure is on companies to deliver gains because that’s one way they can quiet criticism that their stock prices have shot too high.
In other dealings early Thursday, the benchmark US crude shed 41 cents to USD 60.07 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, lost 46 cents to USD 63.86 per barrel.
The US dollar rose to 153.73 Japanese yen from 152.65 yen. The euro edged up to USD 1.1623 from USD 1.1609. (AP) SKS SKS
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