Investing.com – Asian equities extended their gains in afternoon trade on Tuesday as China's April trade data beat estimates.
In dollar terms, exports in April rebounded from a drop in March and rose 12.9%, while imports surged 21.5%, resulting in a trade surplus of $28.72 billion for the period.
Analysts had previously expected exports in dollar terms to rise 6.3% on year, while import growth was expected to pick up to 16%.
The data came after the U.S.-China trade talks last week in Beijing, where the U.S. asked China to cut the trade deficit by at least $200 billion by 2020.
China’s export outlook is being clouded by an escalating trade dispute with the United States as well as a potential full-scale trade war, as the two nations threatened each other with tariffs since the beginning of the year.
The impact of the data on equities seemed to be limited however, as the Shanghai Composite and the Shenzhen Component traded 0.9% and 0.7% higher respectively by 1:05AM ET (05:05 GMT). Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was up 1.3%.
Meanwhile, U.S. President Trump’s decision on whether to withdraw from the Iran deal later in the day is likely to be a focus on Wednesday. The U.S. is also due to release its PPI and CPI data on Wednesday and Thursday respectively.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 0.2% in afternoon trade. Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (T:4502) made headlines as the company is nearing an agreement to buy rival drugmaker Shire plc (NASDAQ:SHPG), according to reports which cited people with knowledge of the matter.
Japanese household spending also garnered some attention, as government data showed on Tuesday that the spending fell 0.7% in March from a year earlier, marking the second straight month of declines. Wage earners' income on the other hand slid 3.8%.
Separately, the country’s Finance Minister Taro Aso said on Tuesday that Japan will host a G20 financial leaders' meeting in Fukuoka, western Japan, over June 8-9 next year.
Elsewhere, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 and South Korea’s KOSPI both edged up 0.1%.