Asian stocks rise as China-US trade, Brexit fears recede

Beijing: Asian stock markets followed Wall Street higher Monday as investors looked ahead to a crowded week of corporate earnings, a possible US interest rate cut and other potentially market-moving events.

Benchmarks in Shanghai, Tokyo and Hong Kong all rose as fears about US-Chinese trade tension and Brexit receded. Markets shrugged off soft earnings from US companies including Boeing and Caterpillar.

Some 160 more companies are due to announce their earnings this week, including Alphabet, Apple, Facebook, General Electric and Exxon Mobil. Investors are looking to the Federal Reserve for another US interest rate cut this week.

Central banks in Japan and Canada also are due to announce interest rate decisions.

The US Treasury is due to report which governments are deemed to manipulate their currencies to boost exports, a designation that can trigger penalties.

A watch list issued in May included China, Japan and Germany. This will be "one of the most substantial data and event risk weeks of the year," said Jeffrey Halley of Oanda in a report.

"Stock markets and energy will likely be punished should earnings or data from the US or China disappoint." The Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.8 per cent to 2,976.89 and Tokyo's Nikkei 225 gained 0.3 per cent to 22,867.27.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 0.9 per cent to 26,893.81. South Korea's Kospi was up 0.3 per cent at 2,093.60 and Australia's S&P-ASX 200 was up 1 point at 6,740.70.

Taiwan advanced while markets in New Zealand, Singapore and India were closed for holidays. On Wall Street, the benchmark S&P 500 index closed Friday within 0.1 per cent of its all-time high on July 26.

The S&P 500 rose 0.4 per cent to 3,022.55 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.6 per cent to 26,958.06. The Nasdaq climbed 0.7 per cent to 8,243.12.

Investor attention shifted to corporate earnings as tension eased after Washington and Beijing resumed negotiations.