Istanbul, Jan 16 (DHA) - Markets in Europe opened with gains on Thursday on trade optimism after the United States and China signed their phase one trade deal and Washington stated that phase two talks are already underway.
On Wednesday, United States President Donald Trump and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He signed the phase one trade agreement between the world's two largest economies. According to the US president, while a timeframe on phase two is yet to be outlined,
US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer revealed that the agreement will come into effect 30 days from now. In addition, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said that the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement and the phase one trade deal with China combined will offset losses from Boeing in the GDP and add 50 to 75 basis points.
As the investor confidence is once again fueled with eased worries on global trade and economy, Wall Street closed Wednesday on green: Dow Jones climbed 0.31 percent, S&P 500 jumped 0.19 percent and the Nasdaq rose by 0.08 percent during the closing bell.
Europe
In addition to the trade optimism, on the data front, investors digested German inflation figures which showed consumer prices in Europe's largest economy rose 1.4 percent in 2019.
In other news, Nestle SA announced on Thursday that it will invest 2.07 billion dollars in the development of sustainable packaging solutions.
Markets in Europe traded higher on Thursday. The FTSE 100 rose 0.27 percent at 9:00 am CET. The DAX increased 0.23 percent at 9:03 am CET while the CAC 40 added 0.12 percent at 9:00 am CET
Asia
Stock markets in East Asia traded mixed on Thursday after Trump and Liu He ended the trade dispute between the world’s largest two economies. As part of the deal, China promised to spend 200 billion dollars more on US goods compared to 2017 levels and to import no less than 12.5 billion dollars worth of agricultural goods in 2020 and 19.5 billion dollars in 2021.
Meanwhile, Japanese carmaker Toyota Motor will invest 394 million dollars to the US "flying taxi" startup Joby Aviation.
The Nikkei 225 was 0.07 percent in the positive at 7:30 am CET. Kospi Composite in Seoul traded 0.77 percent higher at the same time. Hong Kong's Hang Seng stood flat at 7:31 am CET, while the Shanghai Composite lost 0.42 percent and the Shenzhen Composite slid 0.20 percent at the same time. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.67 percent at 7:32 am CET.
On currencies, the dollar was flat against the yen at 7:32 am CET, buying 109.9455 yens. The euro traded flat against the dollar to go for 1.11506 dollars at 9:04 am CET and the pound was up 0.05 percent compared to the US currency to sell for 1.30360 dollars at the same time.