Investing.com - Asian stocks fell in morning trade on Tuesday, as traders remained cautious ahead of a highly anticipated meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
China’s Shanghai Composite and the Shenzhen Component fell 1.6% and 1.1% respectively by 10:30 PM ET (02:30 GMT). Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was down 1.2%.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropped 0.5%. South Korea’s KOSPI was little changed.
Down under, Australia’s ASX 200 slipped 0.1%.
Due to a lack of directional drivers today, traders are turning their focus to the upcoming G-20 summit in Japan this weekend. Sentiment remained fragile as analysts do not expect much progress to be made during the meeting after the U.S. put five more Chinese firms under its trade blacklist this week.
China's Vice Minister of Commerce Wang Shouwen said Beijing wants the U.S. to stop “inappropriate actions” against Chinese firms.
“We hope the U.S. side, under the principles of free trade and the spirit of WTO (World Trade Organization) principles, can cancel these inappropriate measures against Chinese companies, and remove them from the entity list. This has benefits for both sides,” said Wang in a press conference on Monday.
Trump said he expects a good meeting with Xi, but warned earlier that China must return to concessions it made in earlier rounds of talks before the two sides could make a deal.
China’s Ministry of Commerce today released a statement and said the country’s Vice Premier Liu He had spoken to U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer on the phone this week.
They discussed trade and agreed to maintain communications, according to the statement.
Meanwhile, White House officials confirmed on Monday that Trump will also meet with Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the summit.