Conflicting Asian Market on Tuesday Waits for Elusive Trade Agreement

SINGAPORE – The Asian market on Tuesday was full of conflicting sentiments with the pending news about the current status of the trade negotiations between the US and China.

The seemingly quiet and non-existent update on the trade agreement between the two largest economies in the world made for a subdued trade session on Tuesday. According to the head of economics and strategy at the Asia Treasury Department at Mizuho Bank in Singapore, Vishnu Varathan, there are still some doubts as to whether phase one of the US-China trade agreement will be struck. Varathan also said that there had been suspicions about the trade deal, saying that there are a lot more issues the two countries have to iron out than both have originally thought.

Meanwhile, the boost in Asian shares was primarily brought by the positive sentiment that Beijing will be able to bring some economic input.

The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong gained up to 1%, with a 0.6% increased for the Shanghai Blue Chips, and a modest 0.3% gain for the broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares of MSCI outside Japan. The S&P/ASX 200 index in Australia also rose by up to 0.7%.

On the other hand, among the losers in the trading session includes the Kospi Index in South Korea, dropping about 0.5% and the Nikkei index in Japan, which lost about 0.4%.

According to reports overnight, the market mood in Beijing has been pessimistic at best when it comes to the country’s trade agreement with the US.

However, the new extension that allows US companies to keep working with Huawei, a telecom giant in China, which was granted by Washington, suggested a possible truce. Still, there hasn’t been any news or update about the current status of the US-China trade talks from either party.

According to the chief market strategist in Sydney’s CMC Markets brokerage, Michael McCarthy, the longer the trade talks will be, the more concerns in the market will start to rise.

The tariffs on Chinese goods have been on issue for phase one of the trade deal, and the next deadline regarding this dispute is set for when another tariff will take effect, which is scheduled on December 15.

Indexes in Wall Street, although gained through Tuesday, the change was mostly modest. The Dow gained 0.1%, Nasdaq Composite rose up to 0.1%, and the S&P 500 got a meager 0.05% increase.

The currency market has also modestly remained range-bound.