Investing.com - Asian stocks rose in morning trade on Wednesday as U.S. President Donald Trump confirmed he would be meeting his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping next week to discuss trade-related issues.
China’s Shanghai Composite and the Shenzhen Component gained 1.5% and 2.0% respectively by 10:34PM ET (02:34 GMT).
Trump tweeted that he will meet Xi at the G-20 summit next week, adding that he had a “very good” phone conversation with Xi.
“Had a very good telephone conversation with President Xi of China. We will be having an extended meeting next week at the G-20 in Japan. Our respective teams will begin talks prior to our meeting,” Trump said on Twitter.
His tweets triggered a rally in financial markets, as some were skeptical whether the meeting would happen.
Later, at the rally in Orlando, Trump said “we’re either going to have a good deal, and a fair deal, or we’re not going to have a deal at all. And that’s ok too, because we are taking in billions and billions of dollars into our treasury and companies are leaving China because they want to avoid paying these large tariffs."
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index jumped 2.4%. The city’s chief executive Carrie Lam spoke to reporters and apologized on Tuesday after two mass protests this month over a highly controversial extradition bill. However, the leader refused to step down or officially withdraw the bill.
Multiple local reports said protesters have vowed to continue hitting the streets until she resigns and withdraw the bill completely.
Lam has previously said the bill is now suspended and there is no timeline to revive the bill again.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 climbed 1.7%. The Bank of Japan is widely expected to keep its stimulus unchanged in today’s meeting. Last week, governor Haruhiko Kuroda told Bloomberg in an interview that no policy action is needed now, although the central bank still has room for big stimulus.
Meanwhile South Korea’s KOSPI rose 1.0%.
Down under, Australia’s ASX also rose 1.0%.
Overnight, Wall Street closed higher, with the Dow gaining more than 1%. The U.S. Federal Reserve will conclude its two-day meeting later in the day.