Asian stocks climbed on Friday morning after U.S. President Donald Trump confirmed that he will join the second day of trade talks between Chinese and American delegations.
According to CNBC, the Shenzhen composite was fractionally higher during the morning trading and the Shanghai composite added 0.2 percent. Japan's Nikkei 225 also added 0.95 percent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index edged up 1.31 percent, and the Topix index climbed 0.52 percent.
South Korea's Kospi saw gains of 0.93 percent, while the Australian S&P/ASX 200 was 0.7 percent higher. Market experts said the rallying of Asian stocks was proof that global markets are watching the China-U.S. trade talks carefully.
Shares also surged in reaction to the trade talks optimism surrounding Washington. The stock surge was led by Uniqlo's parent company, Fast Retailing, as the firm saw its shares soar almost four percent, while CNOOC shares also advanced 3.13 percent.
Trump on Thursday evening took to Twitter to announce that he will meet the head of the Chinese delegation, Vice Premier Liu He, for the second day of trade talks. His announcement came after contradicting reports that emerged about the developments in the trade dispute.
Singaporean research firm DBS Group Research said in a note that for a trade truce to confirmed by both sides, Trump should "suspend or cancel" the tariffs that are set to be imposed on Chinese goods next week.
After the first day of talks concluded, some analysts noted that if there will be a deal, it would pretty much be limited, Reuters reported. On the other hand, some experts held on to hope after the U.S. president said Thursday's meeting resulted in a "very, very good negotiation with China."
For China's part, the Chinese negotiation team head was spotted smiling and waving to reporters. He did not answer any questions but some analysts took his optimistic body language as a sign that the talks progressed on a good note.
An official at the White House also hinted that the talks were "probably better than expected." U.S. Chamber of Commerce head of international affairs, Myron Brilliant, noted that it is possible for Washington to halt the expected tariffs on October 15.
The U.S. delegation's Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin was asked shortly after Day 1 talks about how the talks progressed. While Mnuchin did not respond, he echoed Liu's body language by smiling at reporters.
It is worth noting that before this week's talks, tensions were escalated between two of the world's largest economies after Washington blacklisted 28 Chinese firms and also restricted visas for several Chinese officials.
It remains to be seen how the trade talks will end on Friday as the two sides head towards an elusive trade deal.
