China Market surges on trade war truce

The Mainland China equity market closed higher on Monday, 14 October 2019, as news of an interim trade deal between Washington and Beijing soothed investor concerns over further escalation of their tariff war. At closing bell, the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rose 1.15%, or 34.23 points, to 3,007.88. The Shenzhen Composite Index, which tracks stocks on China's second exchange, added 1.43%, or 23.37 points, to 1,660.33. The blue-chip CSI300 index climbed 1.06%, or 41.52 points, to 3,953.24.

Investor risk sentiment got a boost on prospect of a trade deal after U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday outlined the first phase of a deal to end a trade war with China and suspended a threatened tariff hike set to go into effect next week. China, meanwhile, said it would increase purchases of U.S. agricultural products. As part of this phase, China will purchase between $40 billion and $50 billion in U.S. agricultural products. Trump also said the deal includes agreements on foreign-exchange issues with China. In exchange, the U.S. agreed to hold off on tariff hikes that were set to take effect Tuesday.

 

The emerging deal, covering agriculture, currency and some aspects of intellectual property protections, would represent the biggest step by the two countries in 15 months to end the tit-for-tat tariff war, though Trump said it could take up to five weeks to get a pact written. Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are both scheduled to attend the summit of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) countries in Chile next month. Trump hinted that a written agreement could be signed there.

On economic news front, China reported a trade surplus of $39.65 billion last month, compared with a $34.84 billion surplus in August, customs data showed on Monday. September exports fell 3.2% from a year earlier after August 1% drop, while total September imports fell 8.5% after August's 5.6% decline. Its trade surplus with the United States stood at $25.88 billion in September, narrowing from August $26.96 billion. China's exports to the United States fell 10.7% from a year earlier in dollar terms in January-September, while U.S. imports dropped 26.4% during that period, the customs data showed.

CURRENCY NEWS: China's yuan rallied against greenback on Monday, boosted by signs of progress in Sino-U.S. trade negotiations and as the People's Bank of China (PBOC) set the midpoint rate at 7.0725 per dollar, just 2 bps firmer than the previous fix of 7.0727. As of midday, the spot rate was changing hands at 7.0517, 373 bps stronger than the previous late session close.

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