Asian stocks open mixed with Trump's speech in focus

Asian stocks opened mixed on Tuesday, as the Japanese stocks were mixed, with the Chinese and Australian stocks falling, while the New Zealand stocks, Hong Kong's Hang Seng and the South Korean Kospi index rose, amid anticipation for the outcome of President Donald Trump's speech at the Economic Club in New York.

President Trump said on Saturday that the trade talks with China are going "very nicely" and that Beijing wants a trade deal "much more than me", which helped to renew hopes after the recent White House's statements that denied a complete rollback of the Chinese tariffs.

Gao Feng, spokesman for China's Ministry of Commerce, said Thursday that Beijing and Washington agreed to eliminate some tariffs based on each other's goods at the same time, and added that the "phase 1" of the trade deal between the two sides would be signed within the next few weeks.

A US official confirmed the statements later to eliminate the tariffs, but added that the removal plan faces opposition in the White House and from outside advisers, according to Reuters quoted sources, hours after several reports touched the delaying of the first phase of the US-China trade agreement to next month.

The recent reports were about a delay for the upcoming meeting between the US president and his Chinese counterpart for signing the interim trade agreement to December, amid discussion between the two sides on the agreement terms and the meeting location, which is expected to be at the NATO summit early next month.

As for trading, the Japanese stocks were mixed today, with the Topix falling by 0.17% or 2.87 points to 1,701.16 points, while Nikkei 225 rose by 0.12% or 28.06 points to 23,359.90.

While the Chinese stocks fell during the sessions, as the CSI 300 index fell by 0.47% or 18.38 points to 3,884.60, and the Shanghai Composite index fell by 0.44% or 12.74 points to 2,897.23.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose by 0.08% or 21.11 points to 26,947.66, and South Korean Kospi rose by 0.22% or 4.61 points to 2,128.70.

To New Zealand's NZX 50, which rose by 0.06% or 6.52 points to 10,926.31, while the Australian S&P/ASX 200 fell by 0.50% or 34.02 points to 6,738.50.