Hang Seng
Asian shares edged up on Thursday on a weaker dollar and hopes of more economic stimulus in China, but many stocks seesawed as markets awaited some details on this week’s U.S.-China trade talks amid hopes an all-out trade war can be averted.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS was last up 0.8 percent to stand at its highest since Oct. 8.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 1.3 percent and the Shanghai Composite Index rose more than 1 percent following a surge of 1.8 percent the previous day.
Spreadbetters expected European stocks to open mixed, with Britain’s FTSE and Germany’s DAX each slipping about 0.1 percent and France’s CAC inching up 0.05 percent.
European shares are expected to fall, with financial spread-betters see Britain’s FTSE, France’s CAC, Germany’s DAX opening 0.4 percent lower.
Official data showed China’s economy grew 6.7 percent in the second quarter of 2018, cooling from the 6.8 percent growth registered in each of the previous three quarters.
Spreadbetters expected European stocks to open higher, with Britain’s FTSE gaining 0.3 percent, Germany’s DAX adding 0.35 percent and France’s CAC 0.4 percent.
S&P 500 futures ESc1 turned higher, rising 0.3 percent and pointing to possible gains on Wall Street after major U.S. indexes closed lower Tuesday.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS gained 0.6 percent after slumping on Wednesday to its weakest since early April.
Asian shares fell the most in over a year on Monday as fears of resurgent inflation battered bonds.
Asia stocks pulled further back from record highs on Wednesday as the recent rise in global bond yields weighed on equities.
Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.5 percent as the yen eased a little, while South Korea notched a record.
