Stocks in the Far East were mostly higher on Tuesday, while top trade representatives from Washington and Beijing had a call to discuss the implementation of their phase one agreement.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 leaped 311.26 points, or 1.4%, to 23,296.77. The Japanese yen traded at 106.27 per U.S. dollar after seeing levels below 105.5 against the greenback last week.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng lost 65.36 points, or 0.3%, to 25,486.22. In Hong Kong, shares of China Eastern Airlines jumped 4% while China Southern Airlines surged 5.2%. Similar gains were seen in Japan, where ANA Holdings soared 7.2%.
Meanwhile in Singapore, Singapore Airlines added 3.3%.
The moves upward in airline stocks followed their counterparts stateside such as United Airlines on Monday, which came on the back of positive coronavirus developments.
The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7169 following a decline yesterday from levels around $0.72.
CHINA
The CSI 300 took on 6.10 points, or 0.1%, to 4,761.95.
Meanwhile, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin had a call with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He Monday evening stateside to "discuss implementation of the historic Phase One Agreement between the United States and China," according to a statement released by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
The conversation was also confirmed by Chinese state media agency Xinhua.
In other markets
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index gained 20.42 points, or 0.8%, to 2.559.03.
In Korea, the Kospi picked up 36.9 points, or 1.6%, to 2,366.73.
In Taiwan, the Taiex index jumped 111.12 points, or 0.9%, to 12,758.25.
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 gathered 72.11 points, or 0.6%, to 11,993.18.
In Australia, the ASX 200 improved 31.82 points, or 0.5%, to 6,161.39.
