Asia-Pacific markets traded mixed Thursday as investors look to a high-stakes meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping for clues on the future of U.S.-China ties and global trade.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index doffed 618.06 points, or 1%, to 62,654.05.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng nicked 0.6 points to 26,389.04.
Trump landed in Beijing Wednesday for the closely watched summit, accompanied by a group of U.S. executives, including Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Nvidia boss Jensen Huang.
Samsung shares rose as much as 5%, notching a fresh record high. The tech giant suffered a brief wipeout of $66 billion in market value on Wednesday following a labor dispute that threatened one of the biggest strikes in the company’s history.
This comes as the labor union threatened an 18-day strike from May 21 if its demands were not met. More than 41,000 workers are expected to join the walkout, which was first announced at a rally on April 23.
South Korea’s Finance Minister Koo Yun-cheol warned Thursday that a potential strike by Samsung workers could pose a major threat to the country’s economic growth, exports and financial markets.
CHINA
In Shanghai, the CSI 300 index slipped 83.74 points, or 1.7%, to 4,914.60.
Analysts at Goldman Sachs said they expect the Trump-Xi meeting to focus narrowly on trade and export controls, including tariffs, restrictions on rare earths and semiconductors, rather than producing a sweeping reset in bilateral ties.
The investment bank said China could agree to step up purchases of U.S. farm goods, energy and aircraft in exchange for avoiding further tariff hikes.
The bank maintained a positive view on China assets, citing the country’s export competitiveness and what it described as an “undervalued” currency, while reiterating an overweight call on Chinese equities, particularly mainland A-shares over Hong Kong-listed H-shares.
In other markets;
In Taiwan, the Taiex regained 377.25 points, or 0.9%, to 41,751.75.
In Singapore, the Straits Times 50 index subtracted 8.02 points, or 0.2%, to 4,995.94.
The Kospi galloped 137.4 points, or 1.8%, to 7,981.41.
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 lost 38 points, or 0.3%, to 13,025.07.
In Australia, the AZX 200 poked ahead 10.33 points, or 0.1%, to 8,640.72.
