Stocks Rise as Trade Talks Head Into Second Day: Markets Wrap

(Bloomberg) -- U.S. and European stock futures gained as high-level U.S.-China trade talks progressed into a second day and optimism grew that a truce can be achieved. Treasury yields steadied after jumping overnight.Friday’s session in Asia saw shares climb from Tokyo and Shanghai to Seoul and Sydney after President Donald Trump said discussions with China are going “really well” and will continue on Friday. Stocks in Hong Kong got an extra lift as protesters discussed scaling back vandalism ahead of planned protests this weekend. Ten-year Treasury yields were at 1.67% and the yuan continued to grind higher. The pound retained its advance, bolstered by talk of a pathway to a Brexit deal.Investors remain on tenterhooks after trade headlines roiled markets this week, with both China and the U.S. having signaled cautious optimism in securing a partial deal for a temporary truce on tariffs. Trump said he will meet with China’s lead negotiator Vice Premier Liu He on Friday.“It is good news if we do have a deal -- it avoids the worst,” Thanos Vamvakidis, head of global G-10 foreign exchange strategy at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, told Bloomberg TV. “But we are not out of the woods yet.”Elsewhere, the pound touched the highest level in two weeks against the greenback after U.K. and Irish leaders said that there may be a possible “pathway” for a Brexit deal. Crude rose after OPEC Secretary-General Mohammad Barkindo said members and allies including Russia will do “whatever it takes” to prevent another oil slump as the global economy weakens.Here are the main moves in markets:StocksFutures on the S&P 500 Index gained 0.4% as of 7:05 a.m. in London. The underlying gauge rose 0.6% Thursday.Futures on the Euro Stoxx 50 rose 0.3%.Japan’s Topix index advanced 0.9%.Hong Kong’s Hang Seng surged 2.4%.The Shanghai Composite added 0.9%.South Korea’s Kospi index gained 1%.Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index advanced 0.9%.CurrenciesThe yen was at 108.02 per dollar, little changed.The offshore yuan was at 7.1046 per dollar.The euro bought $1.1014.The British pound was at $1.2460 following a 1.9% surge Thursday.BondsThe yield on 10-year Treasuries was at 1.67%.Australia’s 10-year yield advanced ten basis points to 1.02%.CommoditiesWest Texas Intermediate crude gained 1.7% to $54.48 a barrel.Gold was at $1,496.44 an ounce.\--With assistance from Vildana Hajric.To contact the reporters on this story: Adam Haigh in Sydney at ahaigh1@bloomberg.net;Sybilla Gross in Sydney at sgross61@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Christopher Anstey at canstey@bloomberg.net, Cormac Mullen, Ravil ShirodkarFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.

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