Global stocks mixed after US, China announce tariff truce

BEIJING (AP) — Asian stocks rose while European markets opened lower Monday after Washington and Beijing announced a truce on tariff hikes in a trade war.

London and Frankfurt declined while Shanghai and Hong Kong gained. Japanese markets were closed for a holiday.

President Donald Trump agreed Friday to put off planned tariff hikes this week on Chinese goods in a fight over Beijing's trade surplus and technology plans. In exchange, he said China would buy American farm goods. But the two sides reported no progress on basic disputes that sparked the 15-month-old fight that threatens global economic growth.

Friday's truce "has simply temporarily halted the escalation in China-U.S. trade tensions," Philip Wee and Eugene Leow of DBS Group said in a report.

"Longer-term concerns remain that the trade war may widen from tariffs towards impeding investment flows," they said. The truce "could also see the Trump administration turning its tariff war towards the Eurozone."

In early trading, London's FTSE 100 declined 0.4% to 7,217.36 and Frankfurt's DAX lost 0.5% to 12,443.99. France's CAC 40 retreated 0.6% to 5,628.69.

"It can be argued that the gains in global stocks were disproportionate to the (U.S.-Chinese) compromise that was reached and European stocks are duly pushing lower this morning," said Rabobank in a report.

On Wall Street, futures for the benchmark Standard & Poor's 500 index and Dow Jones Industrial Average were unchanged.

In Asia, the Shanghai Composite Index rose 1.1% to 3,007.88 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng advanced 0.8% to 26,521.85. Seoul's Kospi added 1.1% to 2,067.40.

Sydney's S&P-ASX 200 gained 0.5% to 6,642.60 and India's Sensex rose 0.9% to 38,477.16. Benchmarks in Taiwan, New Zealand and Southeast Asia also advanced.

Also Monday, China reported exports to the United States fell 17.8% in September from a year earlier to $36.5 billion. Imports of American goods sank 20.6% to $10.6 billion.

China's global exports fell 1.4% to $218.1 billion. Imports fell 5.8% to $178.5 billion.

On Friday, the S&P 500 ended with its first weekly gain in four weeks.

The S&P 500 added 1.1%, while the Dow rose 1.2%. The Nasdaq gained 1.3%.

ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude lost 40 cents to $54.30 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract gained $1.15 on Friday to close at $54.70. Brent crude, used to price international oils, declined 48 cents to $60.04 per barrel in London. It advanced $1.41 the previous session to $60.51.

CURRENCY: The dollar declined to 108.25 yen from Friday's 108.38 yen. The euro slipped to $1.1030 from $1.1036.