Hong Kong Stocks Edge Up, Shanghai Falls

Hong Kong shares ended Thursday's morning session with modest gains on cautious hopes that the United States and Mexico would strike a compromise on tariffs.

The Hang Seng Index rose 0.2 percent, to 26,953 by the break.

On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.5 percent, to 2,848, while the Shenzhen Composite Index gave up 1.2 percent, to 1,477.

Other Asian markets and oil markets made modest gains even as trade tensions continued to weigh on investors' minds.

Tokyo rose 0.3 percent. Seoul eked out gains of 0.1 percent but Singapore was flat.

Crude oil prices had fallen overnight following the release of data from the US Department of Energy that showed domestic production rising, while Morgan Stanley on Wednesday slashed its oil price forecast, citing a "sharper-than-expected slowdown in demand".

"Oil prices remain under pressure, dragged down by an unexpected gain in US inventories and comments from the head of Russian state oil producer Rosneft questioning the point of a deal with Opec to withhold supplies," said Dean Popplewell, vice-president of Market Analysis at Oanda. (AFP)

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