Asia stocks jump as investors await US-China phase one deal signing

Asia stocks mostly rose by the close on Monday as investors await the signing of a phase-one trade deal between the U.S. and China.

Mainland China markets jumped by the close. The Shanghai composite rose 0.75% to close at 3,115.57, while the Shenzhen composite jumped 1.36% to 1,822.35. The Shenzhen component was up 1.47% to 11,040.20.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index also bounced and was up 1.11% in its final hour of trade. Tech stocks notched gains, with Sunny Optical rising 2.61% and Lenovo surging 3.20%. Gaming company Razer shot up almost 10% in the morning before paring gains to last rise 8.33%. It announced earlier this month that it had submitted an application for a digital banking license in Singapore.

In South Korea, the Kospi rose 1.04% to close at 2,229.26, with cosmetics stocks notching significant gains. Japan’s markets are closed for a holiday on Monday.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 bucked the trend, declining 0.37% to close at 6,903.70, with oil stocks seeing losses. Origin Energy declined 1.72%, Woodside Petroleum was down 1.20%, and Santos tumbled 0.56%. Oil Search was off by 1.89%.

But gold stocks in Australia rallied on Monday to erase last week’s losses after prices fell following declining U.S.-Iran escalation risks. Evolution Mining surged 2.79%, and Kingsgate Consolidated jumped 1.14%.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.69%, after hitting its highest since 2018 last week.

Taiwan’s benchmark Taiex index rose 0.74% to close at 12,113.42.

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen was reelected in a landslide victory over the weekend elections. She beat her main opponent Han Kuo-yu of the Kuomintang party — which favors close ties with China — by more than 2.6 million votes. That could fuel further tension with China, which has tried to get the island to accept its rule by way of threats and economic inducements.

Meanwhile, the Philippine Stock Exchange suspended trading on Monday after a volcano near Manila spewed huge amounts of ash and steam, forcing flight cancellations and shutdowns of schools and government offices, according to a Reuters report.