* Asian shares regain lost ground
* White House assures U.S.-China trade deal still intact
* Investors buoyed by China deal remaining live
* Stocks rise, dollar climbs, gold steady
By Swati Pandey and Scott Murdoch
SYDNEY, June 23 (Reuters) - Asian equity markets bounced on
Tuesday after U.S. President Donald Trump said the U.S.-China
trade pact was "fully intact", clarifying earlier confusing
statements from the White House over the fate of the deal.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside of
Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS rose 0.72% to 517.1 points after earlier
going as low as 509.9. Chinese shares regained lost ground too,
with the blue-chip index .CSI300 last up 0.38%.
Jitters emerged early in the Asian day after White House
trade adviser Peter Navarro said the trade deal with China was
"over", linking the breakdown in part to Washington's anger over
Beijing not sounding the alarm earlier about the coronavirus
outbreak. The statement prompted a selloff across equities markets but
sentiment quickly recovered when Navarro, an outspoken critic of
China, said his remarks had been taken out of context.
Trump also soothed nerves when he tweeted: "China trade deal
is fully intact. Hopefully they will continue to live up to the
terms of the agreement."
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng .HSI rose about 1% in early
afternoon trade, South Korea's KOSPI index .KS11 added 0.54%
and Japan's Nikkei .N225 jumped 0.8%.
Asian stocks have rallied hard since hitting a low in March
amid worries about the jolt to the global economy from the
coronavirus-driven shutdown.
Ord Minnett investment advisor John Milroy said equity
market sentiment was positive despite ongoing bursts of
volatility across regional markets.
"It's worth nothing our clients here have been net buyers
since the depths of market despair," Milroy told Reuters from
Sydney.
"I should think any pullback would be a catalyst for that
pattern to resume, the conversations that I am having with
clients is all about what to buy not what to sell."
Safe-haven gold, which initially rose on Navarro's remarks,
sold off on the clarification, while risk sensitive currencies
staged a recovery.
"The saving grace for markets is liquidity, which is in
abundance and will offer a backstop as the bulls and bears stage
a tussle and cause market volatility," said Vasu Menon,
Singapore-based senior investment strategist at OCBC Bank Wealth
Management.
Menon expects U.S.-China tensions to escalate in the run-up
to the U.S. elections.
"So expect markets to be very bumpy in second half of this
year because of the double whammy from COVID-19 and U.S.-China
tensions."
China on Tuesday reported 22 new coronavirus cases, of which
13 were located in the capital, and the city's government has
started to restrict people from moving to help contain the
outbreak.
New infections have spiked in Latin America, Brazil in
particular, while New York City, the epicentre of the U.S.
outbreak, eased restrictions after 100 days of lockdown.
In the Asian afternoon trading session, the safe-haven yen
slipped against the dollar to 107.13 JPY= , while the euro was
a shade higher at $1.1266 EUR= .
The risk sensitive Australian dollar AUD=D3 was up 0.1% at
$0.6910. Its kiwi counterpart NZD=D3 was marginally weaker at
$0.6472.
In commodities, U.S. crude CLc1 fell 0.22%, or 13 cents,
to $40.64 a barrel, while Brent LCOc1 was down 13 cents at
$43.07.
As investors piled on equities, spot gold XAU= was
relatively flat at $1,754.52 an ounce after trading down by up
to 0.2%.
<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Global assets http://tmsnrt.rs/2jvdmXl
Global currencies vs. dollar http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh
Emerging markets http://tmsnrt.rs/2ihRugV
MSCI All Country Wolrd Index Market Cap http://tmsnrt.rs/2EmTD6j
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>