Asian Stocks Rise, Trump-Xi Plan Eases Tensions
Asian stocks opened higher on Friday after news of a planned meeting between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping eased concerns about trade tensions. Oil prices, however, weakened slightly as market participants awaited the release of US inflation data.
The MSCI Asia benchmark index rose around 0.3% at the open, tracking Wall Street's overnight gains. Sentiment was also helped by a surge in Intel shares in after-hours trading thanks to a positive earnings forecast. In bonds, the three-day rally in US Treasuries stalled—yields rose across all tenors, with the 10-year US Treasury yield rising 5 bps to 4%. The US dollar remained relatively flat.
On the geopolitical front, the White House announced that President Trump will meet with Chinese President Xi on October 30—a positive sign amid the trade war between the world's two largest economies. At the same time, the US is reportedly considering a push for quantum computing to compete with China, which has fueled a rally in technology-related stocks.
Overall, the market hopes today's inflation data will not undermine the optimism already supported by company performance reports and the prospect of positive news from US-China relations. As Mark Hackett of Nationwide stated, valuations are still a source of ammunition for the "bears," but the repeated "buy the dip" strategy has many pessimists starting to doubt their own views. (asd)
Source: Newsmaker.id
