Asian stocks climb as Trump offers more bark than bite on China actions

Nikkei 01-06

Equities are continuing the feel-good mood to start the new week, with the Hang Seng and Shanghai Composite both up strongly as well - currently posting gains of 3.5% and 2.2% respectively as Trump goes easy on China over the Hong Kong issue.

In the currencies space, that is seeing the dollar punished with the aussie leading gains of over 1% now upon a technical breakout in both AUD/USD and AUD/JPY.

This sets up a positive mood ahead of European trading but the main concern will be how Wall Street reacts to the ongoing protests in the US since last week. That tempered with the mood in futures initially, but they have recovered to keep near flat levels for the time being.