BANGKOK — World stock markets advanced higher Monday after the European Union worked out a trade deal with the Trump administration ahead of this week’s Aug. 1 deadline.
Investors were focusing on trade talks between U.S. and Chinese officials in Stockholm, Sweden.
Germany’s DAX gained 0.3% to 24,296.51, while the CAC 40 in Paris advanced 0.6% to 7,881.21. Britain’s FTSE 100 picked up 0.1% to 9,130.17.
The future for the S&P 500 gained 0.3% while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.2%.
The agreement between the EU and U.S. President Donald Trump calls for 15% tariffs on most EU exports to the U.S. Before Trump began ramping up tariffs, the average level was 1%.
The deal was announced after Trump and European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen met briefly at the president’s Turnberry golf course in Scotland. It staves off far higher import duties on both sides that might have sent shock waves through economies around the globe.
In Asian trading, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index lost 1.1% to 40,998.27 after doubts surfaced over what exactly last week’s trade truce between Japan and Trump entails, especially Japan’s $550 billion pledge of investment in the U.S.
Terms of the deal are still being negotiated and nothing has been formalized in writing, said an official who insisted on anonymity to detail the terms of the talks. The official suggested the goal was for a $550 billion fund to make investments at Trump’s direction.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index gained 0.7% to 25,562.13, while the Shanghai Composite index edged 0.1% higher to 3,597.94. Taiwan’s Taiex rose 0.2%.
CK Hutchison, a Hong Kong conglomerate that’s selling ports at the Panama Canal, said it may seek a Chinese investor to join a consortium of buyers in a move that might please Beijing but could also bring more U.S. scrutiny to a geopolitically fraught deal. CK Hutchison’s shares fell 0.8% on Monday in Hong Kong.
Elsewhere in Asia, South Korea’s Kospi cli