MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.5 percent, recouping around half of Monday's loss. Stocks in South Korea added 0.7 percent and Australia 0.4 percent. Japan's Nikkei went flat as the yen stopped falling following a sharp drop late last week. (A man walks past an electric quotation board displaying the Nikkei key index of the Tokyo Stock Exchange in Tokyo on August 26, 2016. Tokyo stocks ended the week in the red August 26 as dealers awaited a speech by Federal Reserve chief Janet Yellen and after data showed Japan is still struggling in its battle to kickstart inflation. - AFP)
HONG KONG: Asian stocks are set for a cautious start on Wednesday as investors move to the sidelines before a potentially tense meeting between Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping later this week.
Energy counters bucked the broad trend after a bounce in oil prices on Tuesday thanks to an unplanned production outage in the North Sea and growing concerns about diminishing U.S. oil stocks.
U.S. crude rose to $51.30 per barrel on Tuesday, its highest since March. 8 before settling at $51.14 per barrel in opening trades on Wednesday.
That pushed energy and related shares up on Wall Street and helped reverse losses on the broader market. Main U.S. indexes closed between 0.1 to 0.2 percent higher.
Wall Street's meagre gains are unlikely to provide much support to Asian stocks as investors remain wary of taking fresh positions before a landmark summit for Presidents Trump and Xi on Thursday and Friday.
It will be their first face-to-face meeting since Trump took office on Jan. 20, with trade and security issues set to figure prominently.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was flat with early Asian markets such as Australia and South Korea slightly higher.
Major currencies traded in a narrow range ahead of the release of minutes from the Fed's March meeting when it raised interest rates, and before the big U.S. jobs report on Friday.
The dollar edged 0.1 percent higher to 110.82 yen against the Japanese currency.
The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six trade-weighted peers, was broadly flat at 100.49. The euro was a shade stronger at $1.06810.
Gold was trading at $1,255.21 per ounce, just below a one-week high hit in the previous session. - Reuters
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