Asian stock markets mostly gained in early trading Monday, following advances on Wall Street on Friday after reports that the U.S. and China are drawing a road map to resolve their trade dispute that may culminate in a meeting between President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping in November.
Japanese stocks traded in a tight range, but the Nikkei NIK, -0.18% gave up early gains, and was last down 0.1%. Cosmetics maker Shiseido 4911, +2.41% and drug firm Eisai 4523, +0.72% both gained, while Toyota 7203, -0.96% fell almost 1%
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng HSI, +0.69% jumped about 1% after snapping a five-day losing streak Friday. Tencent 0700, +2.49% rose 2% to aid the advance, while Wynn Macau 1128, +6.81% popped 6% on a dividend announcement, helping push up shares of peers.
Chinese stocks retreated from early gains following their drubbing last week that left benchmarks at fresh multiyear closing lows. The Shanghai Composite SHCOMP, +0.11% was about flat after sliding 4.5% last week, with real estates and financials leading the gains. Smaller-cap benchmarks in Shenzhen 399106, -0.66% slipped 0.4%.
Korean stocks nudged higher, with the Kospi SEU, +0.07% up 0.2% even though Samsung Electronics 005930, -0.68% was little changed. Steelmaker Posco 005490, +3.83% rebounded 4%.
Australia’s ASX 200 XJO, +0.06% was about flat as major bank stocks fell. ANZ ANZ, -0.79% , Commonwealth Bank CBA, -1.18% and Westpac WBC, -0.79% posted near-1% losses. New Zealand’s NZX 50 NZ50GR, +0.54% was working on a four-day winning streak to get back within shouting distance of fresh record highs.
Benchmarks in Taiwan Y9999, +0.01% , Singapore STI, +0.18% and Malaysia FBMKLCI, +0.23% posted modest gains.
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