Asian stocks open the week mixed as investors parse trade developments

The major Asian stocks indices opened mixed today, as the Japanese, New Zealand's stocks, Hong Kong's Hang Seng and the South Korean Kospi rose, while the Chinese, the Australian fell, amid investors parsing prospects about the US and China finally ending the ongoing trade war.

The Chinese state owned news agency "Xinhua" revealed that the Chinese Vice Premier Liu He made a phone call on Saturday morning with the US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer regarding the first phase of the trade deal, and the agency stated that two sides had constructive discussions about theirs fundamental concerns and agreed to keep close contact.

Gao Feng, spokesman for China's Ministry of Commerce stated Thursday that China and the US are holding in-depth discussions on a "phase one" trade agreement, and cancelling tariffs is a key to reaching a deal, and said "this is an important condition for both sides to reach a deal."

On the other side, the White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow also stated that Washington and Beijing are approaching a final agreement. While recently several reports touched the delay of the meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping to sign the interim trade agreement from later this month to next month, while the exact date and location of the two presidents' meeting hasn't been revealed yet.

As for trading, the Japanese stocks rose today, with the Topix rising by 0.73% or 12.27 points to 1,696.67 points, and Nikkei 225 rose by 0.70% or 161.77 points to 23,303.23.

While the Chinese stocks fell, as the CSI 300 index fell by 0.74% or 28.77 points to 3,877.09, and the Shanghai Composite index fell by 0.64% or 18.53 points to 2,891.34.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose by 0.01% or 2.97 points to 26,326.66, and the South Korean Kospi index rose by 1.07% or 22.95 points to 2,162.18.

To New Zealand's NZX 50, which rose by 0.06% or 6.12 points to 10,900.82, while the Australian S&P/ASX 200 fell by 0.28% or 19.02 points to 6,774.70.