Asian markets buoyed by US-China trade war pact reports
News of a deal emerged after the president declared in a tweet that progress was being made in resolving the 17-month trade war.
Friday 13 December 2019 11:13, UK
Asian markets have followed Wall Street higher on reports that a trade deal has been agreed in principle between the US and China.
Share indices from Shanghai to Tokyo closed sharply higher on Friday while China's currency, the yuan, made gains against the US dollar.
New York stock markets had hit record highs on Thursday.
That came after US news outlets including CNBC, a sister company of Sky News, reported that the terms of a so-called phase one agreement were in place following months of on-off talks.
A source told the Reuters news agency that Washington had agreed to suspend tariffs on $160bn in Chinese goods that had been due to come into effect on Sunday, and to roll back existing tariffs.
In return, Beijing would agree to buy $50bn in US agricultural goods in 2020, double what it bought in 2017 before the trade war between the two countries began, according to the report.
But by mid-morning on Friday, neither side had made official statements about the deal, raising questions about whether the terms had been agreed by both sides.
A Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman, asked to comment on the status of trade talks, did not comment on whether an agreement had been reached.
She said: "China is committed to constructive dialogue to resolve and manage our differences, and believe... the deal must be mutually beneficial."
On Thursday, Donald Trump had tweeted that his administration was "very close" to securing a trade pact following 17 months of hostilities.
Mr Trump, who has raised market hopes of an end to his trade war with the world's second-largest economy several times before, only for those expectations to be dashed, sent the message just after markets had opened on Wall Street.
The dispute has raged since the summer of 2018.
If no deal is reached, tariffs on Chinese consumer goods will come in from Sunday.
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There has been a series of tit-for-tat trade tariffs which have been widely blamed for hurting the wider world economy through weakened demand for exports.
Beijing had pledged to retaliate should the US not delay the threatened extension of tariffs to goods, including toys and computer games consoles.
China's threatened response would have also seen the activation of previously announced tariffs on goods including corn, wheat and small aircraft.
It had also said 25% tariffs on US-made vehicles would be reintroduced.
Mr Trump was keen to secure agreement with China as his presidency is tested by an impeachment process and slowing economy that has seen the US central bank cut interest rates three times since the summer.
The next presidential election is due in November next year.