Stocks in Asia Edge Up as Trade Outcome Mulled: Markets Wrap

(Bloomberg) -- Asia stocks saw modest gains Friday amid muted volumes, as investors awaited further details on U.S.-China trade discussions. Treasuries held Thursday’s losses.Japanese shares recovered after three days of declines, though volumes were down about a fifth. Stocks climbed in Hong Kong, South Korea, Australia and China. U.S. futures were flat. Earlier, the S&P 500 Index fell for a third day but remained within 1% of a record high. The yield on 10-year Treasuries edged up while the dollar held firm.It’s been a mixed picture on the trade front this week. Chinese Vice Premier Liu He has invited Robert Lighthizer to Beijing for further talks later this month, according to people familiar, and Washington will likely postpone new tariffs scheduled for December even if there’s no deal by then, the South China Morning Post reported. However, President Donald Trump may soon sign into law a bill supporting Hong Kong’s protesters, a decision Xinhua attacked again.“The market is looking for some bullish signal that things aren’t going to get worse and that we’re not going to see further deterioration in trade talks between the U.S. and China,” Erin Browne, a portfolio manager at Pacific Investment Management Co., told Bloomberg TV. “They just don’t want to see further escalation.”Elsewhere, oil retreated after climbing to a nine-week high. Gold held losses.These are the main moves in markets:StocksJapan’s Topix index rose 0.4% as of 10:25 a.m. in Tokyo.Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.4%.The Shanghai Composite rose 0.1%.Futures on the S&P 500 Index were little changed. The underlying gauge fell 0.2% on Thursday.Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index added 0.5%.South Korea’s Kospi index rose 0.2%.CurrenciesThe yen was at 108.68 per dollar, little changed.The offshore yuan held at 7.0331 per dollar.The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed.The euro bought $1.1063.BondsThe yield on 10-year Treasuries added one basis point to 1.78%.Australia’s 10-year yield rose four basis points to 1.11%.CommoditiesWest Texas Intermediate crude dipped 0.6% to $58.21 a barrel after two days of gains.Gold remained at $1,464.53 an ounce.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, Cormac MullenFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.

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