Investing.com - Asian markets gained in morning trade on Thursday as traders awaited trade talks between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping this weekend.
China’s Shanghai Composite and the Shenzhen Component gained 0.8% and 0.9% respectively by 10:30 PM ET (02:30 GMT).
Overnight, White House spokesman Hogan Gidley told reporters that the two Presidents will meet on Saturday at 11:30 AM ET to discuss trade-related issues.
Ahead of the meeting, Trump warned that substantial amount of U.S. tariffs could be placed on China if no progress is made in trade talks this weekend.
His comments were in contrast with a Wednesday report from Bloomberg that cited people familiar with the matter. According to the report, the U.S. is willing to suspend the next round of tariffs on $300 billion of Chinese goods as a goodwill gesture.
Trump will meet with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison later today, followed by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Friday, before his meeting with Xi, which is likely to be the most closely watched event this weekend.
On the data front, the National Bureau of Statistics reported this morning that profits earned by China’s industrial firms rose 1.1% in May from a year earlier, compared with a 3.7% fall in April.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 1.1%. Protests against closer ties with China made headlines again today as about 10,000 people demonstrated on Wednesday in an attempt to grab global attention ahead of the G-20 meeting this weekend.
It was reported that about 2 million of Hong Kong citizens of the territory of 7.4 million people were on the streets earlier this month to protest against a highly controversial law that would allow extraditions from the city to Mainland China.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said earlier that he expected Trump and Xi to discuss Hong Kong at the G-20.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 was up 0.9%. South Korea’s KOSPI climbed 0.8%.
Down under, Australia’s ASX 200 was little changed at 6,642.00.