Equity markets and oil prices rose Thursday after China said it had agreed with the United States on a plan to gradually remove each other's tariffs, fuelling hopes they can resolve a trade war that has roiled the global economy.
Broad optimism that the economic superpowers would soon complete part one of a wider agreement has been the basis of a rally in global equities for several weeks.
And that confidence was boosted by commerce ministry spokesman Gao Feng saying on Thursday that they had decided to remove levies on each other's imports in phases as negotiations go on.
"In the past two weeks, top negotiators had serious, constructive discussions and agreed to remove the additional tariffs in phases as progress is made on the agreement," he said.
"If China and the US reach a phase-one deal, both sides should roll back existing additional tariffs in the same proportion simultaneously based on the content of the agreement."
Still, Iris Pang, an economist at ING Bank, said: "I am skeptical on how fast the progress will be. How fast the roll back will be is critical to get material and long lasting positive sentiment for the market as well as for both economies."