· European stocks edged higher Monday as investors continue to monitor geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and Iran stoking fears of a military confrontation in the Middle East.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 was up 0.2% early in the morning session, auto stocks tumbling 1% in the early minutes of trade following a Daimler profit warning, while financial services climbed 0.6%.
· Asian shares edged up on Monday as investors pinned their hopes on any signs of a thaw in Sino-U.S. trade negotiations, while oil prices firmed on heightened tensions between the United States and Iran.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.2%, hovering not far from Thursday’s six-week high, while Japan’s Nikkei average was up 0.3%.
· Japan’s Nikkei edged higher in cautious trade on Monday as investors looked ahead to this week’s G20 summit amid a backdrop of rising trade and geopolitical tensions.
The Nikkei share average ended 0.1% higher at 21,285.99 points, after traversing positive and negative territory.
Analysts said investors were on the sidelines ahead of an expected meeting between Chinese and U.S. leaders on the sidelines of the G20 summit on June 28-29 in Osaka, Japan.
China’s President Xi Jinping will attend the G20 summit, state-run Xinhua news agency said on Sunday, giving the first official confirmation of his attendance at a gathering where he is expected to meet U.S. President Donald Trump. Markets are hoping the two leaders could help restart stalled talks to resolve a months-long trade war.
“It’s good that Trump and Xi are meeting but we still don’t know what comes out of the meeting so investors are unwinding both their long and short positions,” said Yutaka Miura, a senior technical analyst at Mizuho Securities.
· China stocks edged higher on Monday as investors pinned their hopes on any signs of thaw in the Sino-U.S. trade negotiations at the G20 summit later this week.
The blue-chip CSI300 index rose 0.2% to 3,841.27, while the Shanghai Composite Index also gained 0.2% to 3,008.15.
The G20 summit will be held in Osaka, Japan on June 28-29.
Reference: CNBC, Reuters
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