Asian stocks open mostly higher, Chinese shares lead gains

Asian stocks opened the fourth trading session with a mixed performance but mostly positive, as Chinese, Japanese and Australian stocks rose, as well as Hong Kong's Hang Seng and South Korea's Kospi amid optimism about the US and China resuming their trade talks, coinciding with the Bank of Japan meeting in Tokyo amid expectations that the Japanese central bank will adopt further stimulus.

On the other hand, New Zealand's stock indices fell Thursday after the release of growth data for the last quarter, with the release of the GDP reading, which showed stable growth rate in line with expectations of 0.6%, unchanged from the previous reading for the fourth quarter of last year, while the annual reading of the GDP accelerated to 2.5% compared to the previous fourth quarter reading and expectations of 2.3%.

Investors are now looking closely at the outcome of the BOJ meeting, hours after the US FOMC meeting on 18-19 June, at which interest rates were kept between 2.25% and 2.50%, in addition to the commission revealing its expectations over growth rates, inflation and unemployment as well as future interest rates for the next three years.

We would like to point out that the Federal Reserve yesterday dropped the word "patient" from its statement, adding that they will act as necessary to maintain the economy, which reflects the possibility of a cut in federal interest rates later. In particular, the Federal Reserve's interest rate forecasts showed that eight Members see a reduction this year, while the average forecast did not reflect any reduction this year, but next year 2020.

Fed Governor Jerome Powell said at a press conference after the meeting in Washington that some monetary policy makers in the Fed committee believe that the issue of soft monetary policy has been boosted, stressing that the committee will continue to monitor the developments and economic data closely during the coming period to determine the future Monetary policy depending on those factors.

US President Donald Trump said through his official twitter account that he had a very good telephone conversation with Chinese President Xi Jinping, adding "We will have an extended meeting next week in the G-20 in Japan, as out concerned teams will start talks before our meeting," which boosted market hopes for a resolution to the trade disputes between the world's two biggest economies.

The Japanese stocks rose during today's trading, with the broader Topix index rising by 0.32% (4.97 points) up to the level of 1,560.24, Nikkei 225 index also rose by 0.61% (130.23 points) up to 21,464.10.

China's CSI 300 index rose by 2.21% (82.30 points) to 3,798.24. The Shanghai Composite Index rose 1.48% (43.28 points) reaching 2,961.09.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gained 0.77% (218.34 points) reaching 28,420.48. South Korea's Kospi rose 0.10% (2.13 points) up to 2,126.91.

To the New Zealand NZX 50 index, which fell 0.37% (37.77) points to reach 10,267.06. On the other hand, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index gained 0.27% (18.17 points) to reach 6,666.30.