Stock Rally Spreads to Asia on Tariff-Delay Relief: Markets Wrap

(Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks climbed after the Trump administration de-escalated its trade war with China, providing some relief to under pressure risk assets. Still, softer than expected Chinese data kept sentiment in check with Treasuries edging higher and the yen clawing back some of Tuesday’s loss.Stocks climbed across most of the region after the S&P 500 Index had its biggest intraday gain in more than two months. Washington said it was delaying until mid-December the 10% tariff on some Chinese-made products that are high on many holiday-shopping lists such as phones, laptops and toys. China said it was sticking to September trade talks with the U.S. The offshore yuan slipped along with the Australian dollar as Chinese retail sales and industrial output data missed estimates.President Donald Trump said he delayed the tariffs to spare the Christmas shopping season after his representatives had a “productive” call with China. That provided the impetus for renewed appetite for riskier assets, a welcome respite from the souring trade tensions that are investors’ number one concern.“This to-ing and fro-ing relationship is expected to stay in place,” Catherine Yeung, Fidelity International investment director, said on Bloomberg TV. “You might get periods of relief like what you are seeing at the moment, but medium term the relationship has changed so the markets will react in a volatile or choppy manner.”Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s airport resumed normal operations after a chaotic night of protest in which demonstrators beat and detained two suspected infiltrators and Trump warned of Chinese troops massing on the border.Elsewhere, oil edged lower after jumping the most since early January. Gold was little changed.Here are some key events coming up:Companies releasing results include Tencent and Alibaba; Cisco, Walmart and Nvidia of the U.S.; the U.K.’s Prudential; Australia’s Telstra; Europe’s Swisscom and brewer Carlsberg.Thursday sees the release of U.S. jobless claims, industrial production and retail sales data.These are the main moves in markets:StocksThe MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 0.8% as of 1:48 p.m. in Tokyo.Japan’s Topix index climbed 0.7%.S&P 500 futures fell 0.1%. The S&P 500 Index rose 1.5% on Tuesday.South Korea’s Kospi index advanced 0.7%.Hang Seng Index rose 0.5%.Shanghai Composite Index added 0.8%.Euro Stoxx 50 futures were little changed.CurrenciesThe yen was up 0.2% at 106.56 per dollar after tumbling 1.4%.The offshore yuan fell 0.3% to 7.0355 per dollar.The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was stable after advancing 0.2%.The euro bought $1.1172, little changed.BondsThe yield on 10-year Treasuries dipped about three basis points to 1.68%.Australia’s 10-year yield added three basis points to 0.96%.CommoditiesGold fell 0.3% to $1,497.18 an ounce.West Texas Intermediate crude slipped 1.2% to $56.42 a barrel.\--With assistance from Luke Kawa.To contact the reporter on this story: Adam Haigh in Sydney at ahaigh1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Christopher Anstey at canstey@bloomberg.net, Andreea Papuc, Joanna OssingerFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.

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