Asian Shares Climb Ahead Of US-China Talks

(RTTNews) - Asian stocks rose on Friday ahead of pivotal talks between the United States and China in Malaysia to avert trade war escalation.

Beijing and Washington "can totally find ways to resolve each other's concerns", the Chinese commerce minister said after the White House confirmed plans for President Donald Trump to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping next week.

Investors also reacted to upbeat earnings results from U.S. chipmaker Intel and looked ahead to the release of the delayed inflation report from the U.S. later in the day for direction.

China's Shanghai Composite index climbed 0.71 percent to 3,950.31 as investors braced for earnings from banking mainstays and industrial leaders.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index closed 0.74 percent higher at 26,160.15, with technology stocks leading the surge after China outlined a new five-year strategy to strengthen technological self-reliance and boost domestic demand.

Japanese markets rallied amid bets of new economic stimulus. Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama signaled the possibility of more government bond sales to fund Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's upcoming economic package, if existing resources prove insufficient.

Investors also digested data that showed Japan's core inflation rate accelerated to 2.9 percent in September, matching the consensus estimate.

The Nikkei average jumped 1.35 percent to 49,299.65 while the broader Topix index closed up 0.48 percent at 3,269.45.

Among the top gainers, technology investor SoftBank Group surged 5.7 percent and chip testing equipment maker Advantest rallied 3.7 percent. Nidec lost 3.6 percent after the motor maker withdrew its full-year earnings guidance and suspended its share repurchase program that was announced on May 27.

Seoul stocks hit a new record high on optimism surrounding upcoming Trump-Xi meeting on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.

The South Korean won rose after the finance ministry pledged action if needed to curb volatility in the won-dollar trade.

The Kospi average soared 2.50 percent to 3,941.59, led by tech shares and battery makers. Samsung Electronics rose 2.4 percent, SK Hynix surged 6.6 percent and LG Energy Solution soared almost 10 percent.

Australian markets ended slightly lower as investors braced for domestic and U.S. inflation data.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 slid 0.15 percent to 9,019, with financials and gold miners leading losses. The broader All Ordinaries index closed down 0.13 percent at 9,317.20.

Across the Tasman, New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX-50 index edged up by 0.11 percent to 13,391.59, extending gains from the previous session.

The dollar held ground in Asian trade, while gold fell more than 1 percent to $4,070 an ounce, after having snapped two days of declines the previous day.

Oil was set for its biggest weekly gain since June following new EU and U.S. sanctions on Russia.

Overnight, U.S. stocks ended higher after President Donald Trump announced that he would meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Oct 30.

It was also reported that a new round of negotiations aimed at resolving escalating trade tensions between the U.S. and China, will take place in Malaysia on Oct. 24-27.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite surged 0.9 percent despite mixed earnings updates from companies like Tesla and IBM Corp. The S&P 500 gained 0.6 percent and the Dow inched up 0.3 percent.