Shares were mixed in Asia on Thursday after modest gains overnight on Wall Street.
The Shanghai Composite SHCOMP, +0.94% jumped 0.9% on reports of possible progress in China-U.S. trade talks.
China’s chief negotiator, Liu He, was scheduled to meet with President Donald Trump on Thursday, and Larry Kudlow, Trump’s top economic adviser, expressed optimism that the two sides can come closer to a final agreement this week.
Read: Kudlow hopeful that U.S., China will ‘get closer’ to trade deal as talks resume
Markets have swayed for months as the contentious talks drag on. The latest reports say that both sides have resolved most of the key issues, with some pledges from China to end practices viewed by the U.S. as technology theft.
Japan’s Nikkei NIK, +0.05% finished flat, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index HSI, -0.17% retreated 0.1%. South Korea’s Kospi SEU, +0.15% advanced 0.1%. Singapore’s Straits Times Index STI, +0.15% rose and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 XJO, -0.83% fell 0.8%
Among individual stocks, Japan Display 6740, +8.33% rallied in Tokyo trading after a report that it would supply OLED screens for Apple Watches starting later this year. Meanwhile, e-commerce company Rakuten 4755, +2.37% gained while oil producer Inpex 1605, -4.02% slipped. In Hong Kong, CNOOC 0883, -1.64% and AIA Group 1299, -1.05% fell, along with many companies in the real-estate sector. Samsung 005930, +0.75% edged up in Korea, while Beach Energy BPT, -4.31% , Oil Search OSH, -1.74% and Woodside Petroleum WPL, -2.07% slid in Australia.
U.S. stocks recovered from a late-afternoon bout of selling on Wall Street to give the benchmark S&P 500 its fifth straight gain.
Technology stocks powered much of the last-minute rebound, led by chipmakers. Retailers, homebuilders and hotel operators were among the big gainers. Energy companies, consumer goods makers and industrial stocks took the heaviest losses.
Investors are awaiting the release Friday of the government’s monthly tally of hiring by U.S. employers and a new round of corporate earnings reports set to begin coming out next week.
The overall forecast is for a weak round of results, with earnings by S&P 500 companies expected to contract by 4%, according to FactSet.
The S&P 500 index SPX, +0.22% added 0.2% to 2,873.40 and is about 2% shy of its most recent all-time high reached on Sept. 20. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +0.46% rose 0.1% to 26,218.13. The Nasdaq Composite COMP, +0.21% , which is heavily weighted with technology stocks, gained 0.6% to 7,895.55. The Russell 2000 index RUT, +0.08% of smaller company stocks picked up 0.5% to 1,560.91. U.S. stock futures pointed to a slightly mixed open for Thursday.
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