China stocks close higher on trade deal optimism

China stocks ended higher on Monday, helped by increasing optimism about the prospects for a Sino-U.S. trade deal. ** The blue-chip CSI300 index rose 0.7% to 3,978.12, while the Shanghai Composite Index added 0.6% to 2,975.49.

** The United States and China on Friday said they made progress in talks aimed at defusing a nearly 16-month-long trade war that has harmed the global economy, and U.S. officials said a deal could be signed this month. ** The Chinese Commerce Ministry on Friday said the world's two largest economies had reached "consensus on principles" during a "serious and constructive" telephone call between their main trade negotiators.

** Investors also seemed to be encouraged by Beijing's increasing efforts to open up its financial markets. ** China's justice ministry on Friday published draft rules to allow foreign companies to list on the country's stock exchanges, with the intention of implementing the changes on Jan. 1.

** The smooth progress in the Sino-U.S. trade talks could help boost expectations of yuan stabilization, while the reallocation of global assets amid U.S. interest rate cuts would bring more money to the A-share market which enjoys an advantage in terms of valuations, Bohai Securities said in a report. ** Sector performances were mixed. Airlines rose as they were seen benefiting from a firmer yuan which could help reduce their dollar-denominated debts.

** Around the region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index was firmer by 1.05%, while Japan's Nikkei index closed down 0.33%. ** At 07:01 GMT, the yuan was quoted at 7.0249 per U.S. dollar, 0.17% firmer than the previous close of 7.0372.

** So far this year, the Shanghai stock index is up 19.3% and the CSI300 has risen 32.1%, while China's H-share index listed in Hong Kong is up 6.6%. Shanghai stocks have risen 1.59% this month. ** About 16.72 billion shares were traded on the Shanghai exchange, roughly 106.9% of the market's 30-day moving average of 15.64 billion shares a day. The volume in the previous trading session was 15.99 billion.

** As of 07:02 GMT, China's A-shares were trading at a premium of 28.74% over the Hong Kong-listed H-shares.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)