News24
13 Aug 2020, 00:13 GMT+10
Eurozone stock markets built on Tuesday's strong gains and Asian indices closed mixed, with worries that US lawmakers may not agree to a fresh stimulus deal any time soon offsetting optimism about upcoming US-China trade talks.
Both governments are meeting this weekend to review their much-vaunted trade pact, which had been a cause for concern among investors owing to ongoing tensions between the superpowers.
US President Donald Trump's top economic adviser said the pact was "fine right now".
Larry Kudlow told reporters that despite the tensions, "one area we are engaging is trade".
He added that Beijing had vowed to stick to its promises on the January trade deal and there was evidence it was increasing purchases.
Analysts said easing concerns about the future of the US-China trade pact and healthy China data provided some cheer to investors, giving them the confidence to shift out of havens such as gold and the yen.
Gold prices extended the previous day's sell-off on profit-taking and owing to a pick-up in the dollar, which had been hammered through July to push the yellow metal to multiple records.
Meanwhile, optimism that US lawmakers will thrash out a new stimulus package to accompany Federal Reserve's ultra-loose monetary policy is waning.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell gave traders a jolt when he told Fox News there had been no progress, fanning concerns the talks could take a lot longer than envisaged.
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