* Asian shares see-sawed in early trade
* White House clarified U.S.-China trade deal still intact
* White House statement whetted risk appetite
* Stocks rose, dollar climbed, gold sold off
By Swati Pandey
SYDNEY, June 23 (Reuters) - Asian shares rebounded on
Tuesday after U.S. President Donald Trump provided assurance
that the U.S.-China trade pact was "fully intact", following
confusing statements from the White House earlier over the fate
of the deal.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside of
Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS rose 0.6% to 516.6 points after earlier
going as low as 509.9. Chinese shares regained lost ground too,
with the blue-chip index .CSI300 last up 0.3%.
Risk sentiment had taken a knock 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 comment caused a kneejerk selloff in equities markets,
although sentiment turned around quickly after a statement from
Navarro that his comment 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 response, shares staged a rally, the dollar climbed and
safe-haven gold sold off.
"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."
Hong Kong's Hang Seng .HSI rose about 1%, South Korea's
KOSPI index .KS11 added 0.3% while 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 shutdowns.
The gains have been driven by hefty central bank stimulus
around the globe and gradual easing of restrictions, although
worries about a second wave kept investors jittery.
Beijing on Monday reported its second straight day of record
COVID-19 infections, while new cases and hospitalisations in
record numbers swept through more U.S. states.
New infections 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.
On Wall Street overnight, the Dow .DJI rose 0.59%, the S&P
500 .SPX gained 0.65% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq .IXIC added
1.11% to set a record closing high.
In currencies, the safe-haven yen slipped against the dollar
to 107.19 JPY= , while the euro was a shade higher at $1.1266
EUR= .
The risk sensitive Australian dollar AUD=D3 was up 0.1% at
$0.6913. Its kiwi counterpart NZD=D3 was a tad weaker at
$0.6472.
In commodities, U.S. crude CLc1 fell 0.6%, or 23 cents, to
$40.50 a barrel, while Brent LCOc1 was down 13 cents at
$42.95.
As investors piled on equities, spot gold XAU= was off
0.2% at $1,750.5 an ounce.
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MSCI All Country Wolrd Index Market Cap http://tmsnrt.rs/2EmTD6j
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