Sydney — Asian shares managed to cling near multi-month peaks on Thursday while bonds eked out a bounce as reports of delays in sealing a preliminary China-US trade deal left investors frustrated at the lack of concrete progress.
Japan’s Nikkei dithered either side of flat in quiet trade, having touched a 13-month top on Wednesday. South Korean stocks were up 0.1% after hitting their highest since May. “But markets have understandably jumped the other way, exhibiting a slight loss of confidence that anything more substantial than an agreement not to further lift tariffs, in return for some increase in US agricultural purchases, can be agreed by way of an initial deal.”
HP rose over 6% after Reuters reported US printer maker Xerox Holdings has made a roughly $33bn cash-and-stock offer for the computer group.