Asian markets are growing Chinese equities are rising as trade tensions abate

Asian stock markets jumped early Friday, reflecting investor relief over the upcoming trade talks between China and the United States, as well as dollar gains against a basket of major currencies, including the yen.

President Donald Trump said Thursday that he had good discussions with Chinese President Xi Jinping and that the trade talks "are progressing well". The two men will meet officially at the end of the month. Investors hope that an agreement will be reached to ease trade tensions.

Nikkei from Japan

NIK + 0.65%

after yesterday's losses, recovered 1%. The earnings season casts a veil over some stocks however. Suzuki Motor Corp.

7269, -4.04%

was down 4% following the release of its result after the opening bell yesterday. Second quarter operating profit decreased 6.6% due to weak sales in Europe, China and India, its main market. After a tough day on Thursday, telecommunications intensified on Friday, with Nippon Telegraph & Telephone

9432 + 5.28%

up to 5% and NTT DoCoMo

9437 + 3.19%

up 2%.

Chinese benchmarks were significantly higher in the hope of easing the trade dispute, with the Shanghai Composite

SHCOMP, + 1.21%

up 1% and the Shenzhen smaller-cap compound index

399,106, + 2.08%

up 1.7%. Insurers and brokerage firms led gains while oil stocks were kept to a minimum due to falling oil prices.

Hong Kong shares surged, with Hang Seng index

HSI, + 2.40%

up 2.3%. Sunny Optical

2382 + 7.40%

jumped 7% with the Tencent heavy index

7:00 + 6.55%

adding 6%. Auto stocks resume shopping with Great Wall

2333 + 5.97%

and Geely Auto

0175, + 7.81%

4.7% and 5% respectively. Among the casino shares, Galaxy Entertainment

0027, + 7.43%

increased by 7% and Wynn Macau

1128 + 9.10%

gained 9%. "The attitude of the Chinese and American leaders has been productive, bringing more positivism to the meeting at the end of the month," said Ivan Ip, UOB Fellow Strategist Kay Hian.

Apple Inc.

AAPL, + 1.54%

Component manufacturers are mostly unaffected by the crisis after the technology giant's business hours after record quarterly results, but a slowing warning of holiday sales. Taiex of Taiwan

Y9999, + 0.09%

pink, like Foxconn

2354, + 0.76%

, Taiwan Semiconductor

2330 + 0.00%

and Largan Precision

3008 + 3.30%

all won. Kospi from South Korea

SEU, + 2.18%

was up more than 2% like Samsung

005930, + 2.14%

and SK Hynix

000660, + 3.81%

won.

ASX 200 from Australia

XJO, -0.41%

was the only loser in the region, as the energy and finance sectors pulled the index down. Oil Search Limited

OSH, -1.68%

was down 2% and ANZ Bank

ANZ -1.66%

was down 1.3%. Benchmark of New Zealand

NZ50GR, -0.09%

stood up slightly.

Reference indices in Singapore

IST + 0.74%

, Malaysia

FBMKLCI, + 0.03%

and Indonesia

JAKIDX, + 0.07%

were also in place.

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