Japan Stocks Rise on Renewed Expectations for Trade Negotiations

(Bloomberg) -- Japanese stocks advanced as investors saw signs of U.S.-China trade negotiations moving forward.

Electric appliance and chemical companies provided the biggest boosts to the benchmark gauge. The yen fell 0.1% to 107.39 against the dollar.

U.S. and China are scheduled for high-level trade talks to begin Thursday in Washington. President Donald Trump said at the White House that talks with China have been going well, though “we’ll see whether or not a deal can be made.“ Earlier, Fox News, citing the Chinese Commerce Ministry, reported that China is prepared to set a timetable for working out more difficult issues next year in trade talks with the U.S.

“It’s very likely that the talks will result in a mini deal, with homework left to be solved, such as the technology transfer issue,” said Ayako Sera, a market strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank Ltd. in Tokyo. “Markets are expecting some form of a deal to come out of the talks, but it won’t be enough to make investors completely optimistic.”

The Trump administration also put eight Chinese technology companies -- including surveillance companies Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co. and Zhejiang Dahua Technology Co. -- on a U.S. blacklist, accusing them of being implicated in human rights violations.

“China appears to be showing its firm stance on trade without leaving the negotiation table,” said Hideyuki Ishiguro, senior strategist at Daiwa Securities Co. “If they work on the deal one step at a time and reach a final agreement, it would be positive for the market.”

Summary

• Topix +0.9% to 1,586.50 at close in Tokyo
• Nikkei 225 +1% to 21,587.78
• Electric Appliances +1%, Chemicals +1.4%

To contact the reporters on this story: Shoko Oda in Tokyo at soda13@bloomberg.net;Toshiro Hasegawa in Tokyo at thasegawa6@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Lianting Tu at ltu4@bloomberg.net, Naoto Hosoda, Kurt Schussler

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