Hong Kong Stocks Rise On Trade Talks Report

Hong Kong stocks rose in the morning session on Tuesday as optimism ahead of fresh China-US trade talks offset concerns about another weekend of violent protests in the city.

The Hang Seng index added 0.7 percent, to 25,992 by the break.

On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.8 percent, to 2,929 while the Shenzhen Composite Index rose 1 percent, to 1610.

Beijing's top trade envoy Liu He is due to meet with US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin from Thursday.

"A large percentage of the market thinks China may roll the dice and take advantage of what they think is Trump's weakened political state, trying to push negotiations" closer to next November's presidential election, said Stephen Innes, Asia-Pacific market strategist at AxiTrader.

Tokyo went into the break one percent higher. Sydney and Singapore were each 0.5 percent higher, Seoul rose 0.9 percent, Manila jumped more than one percent, and Taipei and Jakarta both put on 0.6 percent. Wellington was slightly lower.

On currency markets most higher-yielding units were up against the US dollar, boosted by hopes for the trade talks.

But the Turkish lira was down almost 2 percent after Trump threatened to "obliterate" the country's economy if it overstepped the mark in Syria, a day after giving Ankara a green light to invade its southern neighbour. (AFP)

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