Asian shares jump on China policy easing, trade deal hopes

 Asian shares kicked off 2020 on a strong note on Thursday, spurred by Chinese markets after Beijing eased monetary policy to support the slowing economy.

Investors also cheered news that the United States and China will sign a trade pact soon after months of volatile negotiations between the world’s two largest economies.

European equities were set to follow Asia higher in their first trading session of the new decade. Pan-region Euro Stoxx 50 futures STXEc1 rose 0.62% and FTSE futures FFIc1 were up 0.31%, though German DAX futures FDXc1 fell 0.18%.

U.S. stock futures also suggested a bright start on Wall Street, with S&P 500 e-minis ESc1 up 0.28%.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.43%, after rising 5.6% in December.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that Phase 1 of trade deal with China would be signed on Jan. 15 at the White House, though uncertainty surrounds details about the agreement.

Rising hopes for a resolution to the U.S.-China trade war helped propel global equities to record highs late last year and depressed the value of the U.S. dollar.

MSCI’s all-country world index of stock performance in 49 nations touched an all-time high of 567.80 on Dec. 27. It was last quoted at 565.28, off 0.44% from that peak.

In China, the blue-chip CSI300 index .CSI300, one of the world's best-performing indexes last year, jumped as much as 1.86% on Thursday to its highest level since Feb. 7, 2018. It was last up 1.35%.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng .HSI added 1.05%.

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