Asian Stocks Fall; China Wants More Talk Before Signing “Phase One” Trade Deal

Investing.com - Asian markets were mixed in morning trade on Tuesday after reports said China wants to hold more talks before signing the “phase one” trade deal with the U.S.

China’s Shanghai Composite and the Shenzhen Component were down 0.6% and 1.0% respectively by 10:20 PM ET (02:20 GMT).

Stocks pulled back today after concerns emerged that the U.S.-China trade deal announced Friday might not be as solid as first thought.

U.S. President Donald Trump said late last week that the two nations reached a “very substantial phase one” agreement. However, a Bloomberg report said overnight that there are still a number of points not yet resolved.

China now wants to hold more negotiations this month before agreeing to signing the deal, the reports said, citing people familiar with the matter.

Not resolved were the key issues of access to Chinese markets and how to crack down on technology theft. China also wants Trump to scrap a planned tariff hike in December in addition to the hike scheduled for this week, according to the report.

On the data front, China’s producer price index fell 0.8% from a year earlier. Consumer price index rose 3% year-on-year during the month.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index were little changed at 26,529.0

Japan’s Nikkei 225 jumped 1.7%, while South Korea’s KOSPI traded 0.2% higher.

Down under, Australia’s ASX was near flat at 6,643.

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