Asian Market Review

Asian markets moved mostly higher on Thursday as investors got overnight hints that the U.S. and China might finally find a resolution to their year-long trade war, and worries over a U.S. Presidential impeachment enquiry receded.

In Japan the Nikkei rose 0.5%, helped by the overnight weakness of the Yen that saw it nearly return to the 108.00 level versus the U.S. dollar. A weaker Yen helps shares of Japanese exporters, who receive larger profits when they repatriate overseas earnings.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 is trading lower by 0.2% as it heads into the afternoon, with the big four banks showing broad based weakness. ANZ is trading 0.5% lower, and Commonwealth Bank is down 0.3%, while NAB and Westpac have both lost 0.1%. Major miners are bucking the falling trend though, with BHP and Rio Tinto both 0.9% higher, while Fortescue Metals has jumped by 2.2%.

On mainland China the Shanghai Composite has a 0.5% gain at the open, while the smaller cap Shenzhen Composite has a far more modest gain of 0.1%. Over in Hong Kong the Hang Seng is trading 0.4% higher as it continues to struggle to reverse the multi-month weakness caused by democracy protests in the city.

In South Korea the Kospi is up by 0.6%, with index heavy weight Samsung just 0.3% higher, but chipmaker SK Hynix trading up by 1.7%. Taiwan’s Taiex has a 0.3% gain.

In Southeast Asia gains are muted with the KLCI in Malaysia up by less than 0.1% and the Straits Times in Singapore holding a 0.1% gain.