* Asian stock markets : https://tmsnrt.rs/2zpUAr4
* Asian shares inch up, Nikkei starts on a firm note
* Focus on U.S.-China trade talks
* Gold near three-month lows
By Swati Pandey
SYDNEY, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Asian shares edged higher on
Monday after U.S. President Donald Trump said over the weekend
that trade talks with China were moving along "very nicely",
though uncertainty remained over whether a deal would be signed
this year.
Japan's Nikkei .N225 was up 0.2% to inch closer to a
recent 13-month high. Australian shares .AXJO rose 0.5% to a
two-week high while South Korea's KOSPI .KS11 was off 0.2%.
That left MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares
outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS 0.05% firmer at 534.63, testing a
recent six-month peak.
Trump told reporters on Saturday that talks with China had
moved more slowly than he would have liked, but added that
Beijing wanted a deal more than he did.
That was a more upbeat tone than just a few days earlier
when Trump stressed that the White House would not agree to a
full rollback of existing tariffs, remarks that hit stock prices
and the dollar.
"Despite his bluster that 'China wants a trade deal more
than I do', markets sense that Trump is likely quite keen to
call a truce on what is becoming a serious U.S. economic risk
heading into the 2020 election year," said David Bassanese,
Sydney-based economist at Betashares.
By the close of Wall Street on Friday, optimism had returned
to the market as investors bet that Washingon needs a deal and
it is in the interests of China, too. All three major U.S.
indexes eked out record closing highs.
The Dow .DJI inched up a tad while the S&P 500 .SPX
climbed 0.3% and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 0.5%. The
record closing high by the S&P 500 was the fourth in six
sessions as U.S. stocks rallied on hopes of a trade deal.
In early Asian hours on Monday, E-minis for the S&P500
ESc1 were barely changed.
"Focus this week will again be on any reports on U.S.-China
trade negotiations," Bassanese said. "There is still a lingering
risk that talks could fail once again, in which case the recent
risk-on global sentiment could be quickly unwound."
U.S. officials said a lot of work remained to be done when
Trump announced the outlines of an interim deal last month, and
Beijing has since pushed back on U.S. demands for big
agricultural purchases, among other issues. Analysts said the outlook for equities was highly dependent
on U.S. economic data as a U.S.-China trade agreement would help
bolster manufacturing and industrial sectors.
Data on October U.S. industrial production and retail sales,
along with the National Federation of Independent Business's
monthly small business survey, are scheduled for release this
week.
Reflecting growing economic optimism, the benchmark 10-year
Treasury yield US10YT=RR has moved well off its early
September lows, and the yield curve between 3-month bills
US3MT=RR and 10-year notes has steepened.
Safe haven gold was near a three-month low touched on Friday
after posting its biggest weekly decline in a year. It was last
up a touch at 1460.77 an ounce. XAU=
Benchmark Brent crude LCOc1 fell 9 cents to $62.42 a
barrel while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 slipped
10 cents to $57.14 a barrel.
In currencies, action was muted.
The dollar index =USD was mostly flat at 98.346 as was the
euro at $1.1023. The Japanese yen JPY= held at 109.19 while
the Australian dollar AUD=D3 stayed stuck at $0.6859.
Asia stock markets https://tmsnrt.rs/2zpUAr4
Asia-Pacific valuations https://tmsnrt.rs/2Dr2BQA
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