Investing.com - Asian markets were mixed in morning trade on Wednesday. Sino-U.S. trade made headlines as the White House said U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin are travelling to Beijing next week for another round of negotiations.
China’s Shanghai Composite was down 0.8%, while the Shenzhen Component inched up 0.1% by 10:30 PM ET (02:30 GMT). Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.7%.
Chinese stocks ended lower on Tuesday following reports that Beijing is not likely to add stimulus amid concerns of asset bubbles. Regulators are particularly worried about risks of overheating in the financial and real estate sector, Xinhua reported citing a politburo statement issued on Monday.
Meanwhile, Japan’s Nikkei 225 traded near flat. Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. (T:7201) slumped almost 3% after TV Tokyo reported that the company is downgrading its earnings outlook for the fiscal year that ended in March.
South Korea’s KOSPI was down 1%.
Down under, Australia’s ASX 200 traded 0.9% higher. The country’s first-quarter consumer price index (CPI) came weaker-than-expected, according to data released in the morning.
The CPI cooled to 0.3% in the first three months of 2019, compared to expectations of a 0.4% rise.
Overnight, the White House announced in a statement that China and the U.S. would have another round of trade talks next week.
The discussions “will cover trade issues including intellectual property, forced technology transfer, non-tariff barriers, agriculture, services, purchases and enforcement.”
Chinese officials will fly to Washington for further discussions after the talks in Beijing conclude, the White House said.
Hopes of a trade agreement between the two sides increased in recent weeks after China’s state-owned news agency Xinhua said the two sides have made “new and substantial progress on key issues” in the past month.
In 2018, the Trump administration imposed levies on $250 billion of Chinese products, and Beijing retaliated by placing its own tariffs on $110 billion of American goods.