Asian stock markets were trading higher on Thursday, snapping a nearly week-long losing streak after Wall Street indexes turned positive on Wednesday. South Korea’s Kospi was the only major benchmark to remain in the red, trading down 0.47 percent as of 1:46 p.m. HK/SIN. Japan’s Nikkei 225 headed up 0.76 percent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 00.37 percent. Australia’s ASX 200 was the biggest gainer for the morning session, trading up 1.16 percent. China’s benchmark indexes, the Shanghai Composite and the Shenzhen Composite were up 0.39 percent and 0.80 percent respectively.
The gains came as investors found new reasons to hope for a trade deal between the United States and China, after U.S. President Donald Trump said that the trade talks were going “very well” on Wednesday. Trump’s inability to provide further details or to explain his comments capped gains. Also preventing benchmarks from rocketing higher was a warning from China on Wednesday against a U.S. legislative bill that calls for a tougher response to Beijing’s treatment of its Uighur Muslim minority. The bill has already been passed by the U.S. Senate and is currently awaiting passage by the House of Representatives before being given to President Trump for confirmation. Beijing’s comments hinted that if the bill is passed, it could complicate or even cancel the trade talks entirely. This is the second U.S. legislative effort in recent weeks that focuses on internal Chinese affairs, and Beijing has not responded kindly to the U.S.’s intruding on national policy. Only a few days ago, the U.S. passed a law supporting Hong Kong protesters, which was understood as being staunchly anti-China. Analysts expect the Uighur Bill to be even more contentious.
Currency Movements
The dollar index was lower on Thursday afternoon after several says of modest gains. The index eased 0.10 percent to 97.55 .DXY as the greenback weakened against the yen, trading down 0.06 percent to 108.78. The British pound surged against the dollar, up 0.08 percent to $1.3113 and the euro climbed back from Wednesday’s losses to gain 0.05 percent and to trade at $1.1082.
Of specific interest today is OPEC’s policy meeting which will start later on Thursday and will determine whether the oil producing body will extend its production cuts or deepen them moving into 2020. Oil futures were lower in advance of the meeting, with U.S. WTI futures trading down 0.38 percent to $58.21 per barrel and Brent crude futures down 0.17 percent to $62.87 per barrel.