US-China trade talks usher stock growth, crude hots high

Stocks rose in major markets on Friday on bets of progress in trade talks between the United States and China, while crude futures hit their highest in over three months, supported by ongoing supply cuts.

U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He was set to meet at the Oval Office later in the day in a sign negotiations are advancing. Main indexes on Wall Street rose as trade talks more than offset signs of slower growth in both earnings and the U.S. economy, with the S&P 500 on track for a fourth consecutive week of gains.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 177.54 points, or 0.69 per cent, to 26,028.17, the S&P 500 gained 16.62 points, or 0.60 per cent, to 2,791.5 and the Nasdaq Composite added 61.04 points, or 0.82 per cent, to 7,520.75. Shares in Asia were buoyed by a late rally in Chinese stocks, with the main blue-chip index of Chinese shares rising over 2 per cent to a near seven-month high.

Emerging market stocks were up 0.73 per cent after touching the highest level since August. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan closed 0.72 per cent higher, while Japan's Nikkei lost 0.18 per cent. Trade talks and a growing number of policy U-turns by global central banks have propped up equities in recent weeks, although

this week brought the first outflows from emerging market debt and equity funds since October 2018, Bank of America Merrill Lynch strategists said, citing EPFR data. CRUDE RISING

Oil prices rose, supported by OPEC's ongoing supply cuts and hopes that Washington and Beijing may soon end their trade dispute. U.S. crude rose 0.63 per cent to $57.32 per barrel and Brent was last at $67.11, up 0.06 per cent on the day.

In currencies, the U.S. dollar was little changed against a basket of peers. The dollar index fell 0.11 per cent, with the euro up 0.09 per cent to $1.1344. The Japanese yen strengthened 0.01 per cent versus the greenback at 110.71 per dollar, while Sterling was the last trading at $1.3061, up 0.09 per cent on the day.

The Australian dollar recovered a day after falling more than 1 per cent after Reuters reported the Chinese port of Dalian had barred imports of Australian coal indefinitely. China said on Friday, however, that imports would continue, but customs has stepped up checks on foreign cargoes. Separate comments by Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Philip Lowe that a rate increase may be appropriate next year also helped to boost the Aussie dollar.

The Aussie dollar was up 0.71 per cent versus the greenback at 0.7139. Despite gains on risky assets, safe-haven U.S. Treasuries also rose in price. Benchmark 10-year notes were up 10/32 in price to yield 2.6536 per cent, from 2.688 per cent late on Thursday.

The 30-year bond last rose 22/32 in price to yield 3.0095 per cent, from 3.045 per cent late on Thursday. Spot gold added 0.6 per cent to $1,330.45 an ounce. U.S. gold futures gained 0.43 per cent to $1,333.50 an ounce.

Copper rose 1.39 per cent to $6,469.00 a tonne.