Afp Business Asia

Beyond dancing robots and eager-to-help digital avatars, Shanghai’s World AI Conference saw China stake its claim to global artificial intelligence leadership and frame itself as a clear alternative to the United States.Assumptions that the US was far ahead in the fast-moving field were upended this year when Chinese start-up DeepSeek unveiled a chatbot that matched top American systems for an apparent fraction of the cost.With AI now at the forefront of the superpowers’ tech race, the World AI Conference (WAIC) that ended Tuesday saw China set out its case to take charge on shaping its global governance too.China, the United States and other major economies are “engaged in a marathon at Formula  One speed”, said Steven Hai, assistant professor of tech innovation at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University.”Which country will attain the upper hand can only be assessed dynamically over the course of development.”China and the United States dominate the AI sector — only 10 to 15 percent of models developed in recent years were built without either’s participation, according to Epoch AI, a non-profit research institute.While US companies like Google and OpenAI are still industry-leading, the institute labelled 78 percent of Chinese models “state-of-the-art” compared to 70 percent of models built with American participation.Beijing’s stated aim is to become the world’s leading AI “innovation centre” by 2030.”Now China is neck-and-neck with the United States in terms of core tech, that play (for global leadership) is more relevant than ever,” said Tom Nunlist, associate director for tech and data policy at Trivium China.”With a solid AI offering and the US turning inward, the question is will Beijing’s vision gain greater global traction?”In May, Microsoft’s Brad Smith told the US Senate that “the number-one factor” in the tech race “is whose technology is most broadly adopted in the rest of the world”.- ‘Sovereign AI’ -China’s offer is technical and economical. “One of the biggest differences (with the US sector) is that most of the leading models in China… are open-weight and open-source,” former Google CEO Eric Schmidt told an audience at WAIC. That means they can be adapted by other countries to fit their own needs, said George Chen, partner at Washington-based policy consultancy The Asia Group.”We already see some countries like Mongolia, Kazakhstan, even Pakistan are trying to adopt the DeepSeek model to build their own,” he said.”China has a chance to win in the aspect of sovereign AI to export its model to those countries.”The comparative low cost of Chinese technology — software but also hardware, for example through firms like Huawei — will be a big factor, especially for developing countries, Chen added.On Monday another Chinese start-up, Zhipu, announced its new AI model — also open-source — would cost less than DeepSeek to use.In June, OpenAI accused Zhipu of having close ties with Chinese authorities and noted it was working with governments and state-owned firms across Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa.”The goal is to lock Chinese systems and standards into emerging markets before US or European rivals can,” it said.Washington has moved to protect its lead in AI, expanding efforts to curb exports of state-of-the-art chips to China in recent years.”While limiting China’s share of the global AI hardware market, (these measures) have accelerated indigenous innovation and led Chinese firms to exploit regulatory loopholes,” said assistant professor Hai, referring to “rife” smuggling and circumvention. – Issues of trust? -Other challenges to homegrown firms include the closed nature of the Chinese internet, and “general issues of trust when it comes to using Chinese tech”, Trivium’s Nunlist said. At WAIC, China sought to present itself as a responsible power.  Premier Li Qiang emphasised the risks of AI and pledged to share technology with other nations, especially developing ones.  His remarks contrasted sharply with US President Donald Trump’s aggressive low-regulation “AI Action Plan” launched just days before and explicitly aimed at cementing US dominance in the field. China released its own action plan at WAIC, following a meeting attended by delegates from dozens of countries.Li also announced the establishment of a China-led organisation for international AI cooperation.However, China’s foreign ministry did not respond to a request from AFP for details on the set-up of the organisation — including any international participants — and several foreign delegates said they had not been briefed on the announcement beforehand. Analyst Grace Shao wrote it was clear AI was still in its “infancy stage”.”You can sense that vibrant energy but also the immaturity of the space,” she wrote on Substack.”There just shouldn’t be a definitive conclusion on who is ‘winning’ yet.”

Stablecoin excitement has gripped Hong Kong as the city prepares to launch a licensing system for the less volatile type of cryptocurrency, but authorities warn against overplaying its future role in financial systems.The digital units have been touted as a cheaper, easier way to carry out monetary transactions — and their popularity is soaring, with more than US$270 billion in circulation worldwide.Unlike the heady highs and lows of bitcoin, the value of most stablecoins is kept steady by being linked to an existing national currency — mainly the dollar — or a commodity like gold.Stablecoins are useful internationally because they enable fast, low-cost cross-border payments, handy in markets where hard currency is limited, such as Argentina and Nigeria.The tokens, bought and sold on digital exchanges, are also used as a safe way for crypto investors to station their profits, instead of converting to cash.”The size of the stablecoin market has reached a level where the cash flows have geopolitical implications,” said Paul Brody, global blockchain leader at consulting firm EY.More than 99 percent of stablecoin assets are in US dollars, so for other countries “if you’re not a player, you could find yourself frozen out”, Brody told AFP.The US House of Representatives this month passed an act codifying stablecoin use, which Senator Bill Hagerty said will “ensure the dominance of the US dollar”.Hong Kong’s own stablecoin regulations come in on Friday, part of a push to position itself as an Asian crypto hub as US President Donald Trump’s support for the sector fuels a global resurgence.- ‘Overly idealistic’ -“The opportunities are massive,” said Rita Liu, whose payment company is developing a Hong Kong dollar-denominated stablecoin in a government-run trial.”There’s a wave of legitimising the digital asset industry… Hong Kong is trying to be at the forefront of that wave,” said Liu, chief executive of RD Technologies.Crypto trading has been banned since 2021 in mainland China, which sees it as a “bit too close to gambling”, Brody said.He and others think stablecoins could prove more acceptable to Beijing, which has experimented with its own “e-yuan” central bank digital currency.Officials may first want to see how things go in the semi-autonomous territory of Hong Kong.So far, “a few dozen institutions” have expressed interest in issuing stablecoins or requested more information, Hong Kong Monetary Authority head Eddie Yue said last week.But he called for the public to “rein in the euphoria” over the new bill, as “in the initial stage, we will at most grant a handful of stablecoin issuer licences”.”Some discussion on stablecoins may be overly idealistic,” Yue warned, especially around their “potential to disrupt the mainstream financial system”.The hype can inflate companies’ stock prices, he added, a point echoed by Lily King of crypto company Cobo.”Some applications may be influenced by public relations strategies, as stablecoin-related news often drives market sentiment,” she said.- Bigger problems -RD’s Liu, a former senior manager at Chinese payment platform Alipay, feels that “some of it is fake hype, and some is real”, fuelled by “people’s hope in this industry”.Stablecoins account for about seven percent of the global cryptocurrency market capitalisation, according to CoinGecko.If they eventually become “a mainstay of the plumbing” in finance, Hong Kong could enjoy something of a “first-mover advantage”, said Jonas Goltermann at Capital Economics.Japan and Singapore already regulate stablecoins, while South Korea is exploring the possibility.While stablecoin issuers usually assure buyers their currency is backed up by real-world reserves, they are not risk-free, and sometimes deviate from their pegged value due to market fluctuations, tech issues or problems with the underlying assets.There is also the risk that stablecoins will become “more of a niche product” if banks work out how to make their own programmable money, Goltermann said.”It makes sense for Hong Kong to try anything — it’s kind of on a declining path, for reasons that are not to do with technology. It’s mostly about the politics, and its relationship with China,” he told AFP.”It’s not like stablecoins are a silver bullet that can fix that. But that doesn’t mean it can’t help.”

Stock markets were mixed on Tuesday as investors started turning their attention from trade deals to a slew of company results coming this week.New York struggled, while in Europe, London, Paris and Frankfurt all closed higher.In Asia, Shanghai ended higher but Hong Kong and Tokyo lost ground.The muddled picture came as investors continue to digest the implications of a US-EU trade deal announced over the weekend that many European capitals viewed as lopsided in Washington’s favor.Tuesday also saw Chinese and US officials huddle in Sweden for a second day of talks aimed at extending a trade truce to avoid the return of triple-digit tariffs on each of their countries from August 12.Representatives from Beijing and Washington signaled further talks were likely following a round of negotiations in Stockholm. But a top US trade official stressed that President Donald Trump would make any “final call.”The dollar continued its advance, especially against the euro, while oil prices kept rising strongly.The euro has “suffered a nasty battering… as investors questioned just how positive the US-EU trade deal was for the European Union”, said David Morrison, senior market analyst at Trade Nation.For many investors, though, the focus this week was now more on company earning reports.Tech heavyweights are stealing the spotlight, with Meta and Microsoft to give results on Wednesday, followed by Amazon and Apple on Thursday.Their massive — and extremely costly — investment race in artificial intelligence underpinned much of the action.Attention is also focused on the Federal Reserve.The central bank is expected to keep rates unchanged, but could hint that an interest rate cut will be more likely in September. Trump has lambasted Fed Chair Jerome Powell for not cutting interest rates.US mergers and acquisitions heated up with Union Pacific announcing a deal to acquire rival Norfolk Southern for $85 billion, in what would be first rail company connecting the two ocean coasts of the United States.But shares of both companies fell following the deal’s unveiling. Briefing.com said the deal’s prospects were “clouded” by several concerns, including expected regulatory scrutiny.Among companies reporting results, AstraZeneca rose three percent after reporting strong earnings.But Denmark’s Novo Nordisk, known for its blockbuster diabetes and weight-loss treatments Ozempic and Wegovy, shed 23 percent on lowered forecasts. It has been fighting US authorization allowing pharmacies to create “compound” copycat versions of its drugs because of shortages due to high demand.Merck, the US pharma company, pared a drop in its shares but was still down four percent after saying it would axe jobs under a restructuring aimed at cutting $3 billion in costs a year by 2027.Swedish music streamer Spotify’s shares slid 11 percent after it reported an operating profit that far missed its target.- Key figures at around 2015 GMT -New York – Dow: DOWN 0.5 percent at 44,632.99 (close)New York – S&P 500: DOWN 0.3 percent at 6,370.86 (close)New York – Nasdaq Composite: DOWN 0.4 percent at 21,098.29 (close)London – FTSE 100: UP 0.6 percent at 9,136.32 (close)Paris – CAC 40: UP 0.7 percent at 7,857.36 (close)Frankfurt – DAX: UP 1.0 percent at 24,217.37 (close)Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.8 percent at 40,674.55 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.2 percent at 25,524.45 (close)Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.3 percent at 3,609.71 (close)Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1554 from $1.1589 on MondayPound/dollar: UP at $1.3357 from $1.3356Dollar/yen: DOWN at 148.50 yen from 148.53 yenEuro/pound: DOWN at 86.47 pence from 86.77 penceBrent North Sea Crude: UP 3.5 percent at $72.51 per barrelWest Texas Intermediate: UP 3.8 percent at $69.21 per barrel

China and the United States agreed Tuesday to hold further talks on extending their tariff truce, but a top US trade official stressed that President Donald Trump would make any “final call.”The world’s top two economies met for a second day of negotiations in Stockholm, with both sides seeking to avert tariffs from returning to sky-high levels that had ground trade between the rivals to an effective standstill.The meeting in a Swedish government building, led on the Chinese side by Vice Premier He Lifeng and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent for the Americans, ended without a resolution but with the US side voicing optimism.Neither government has made public any details from the talks, which started on Monday, although US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said Trump would have the “final call” on any extension in the truce.”Nothing has been agreed until we speak with President Trump,” added Bessent, calling the tone of the talks “very constructive”.The negotiations are taking place in the wake of a trade deal struck over the weekend that set US tariffs on most European Union imports at 15 percent, but none on American goods going to the EU.The truce between China and the United States has temporarily set fresh US duties on Chinese goods at 30 percent, while Chinese levies on trade in the other direction stand at 10 percent.That accord, reached in Geneva in May, brought down triple-digit tariffs each side had levelled at the other after a trade war sparked by Trump spiralled into a tit-for-tat bilateral escalation.The 90-day truce is meant to end on August 12. But there are indications both delegations want to use the Stockholm talks to push the date back further.The South China Morning Post, citing sources on both sides, reported on Sunday that Washington and Beijing are expected to extend their tariff pause by a further 90 days.Trump said he would be briefed again by Bessent on Wednesday. “We’ll either approve it or not,” he told reporters aboard Air Force One as he returned from Scotland.- Trump’s threats -Separately, Trump has threatened to hit dozens of other countries with stiffer tariffs from Friday this week unless they reach trade deals with Washington.Among them are Brazil and India, with the South American giant facing a threat of 50 percent tariffs.Asked about Friday’s deadline, Bessent told CNBC: “It’s not the end of the world if these snapback tariffs are on for anywhere from a few days to a few weeks, as long as the countries are moving forward and trying to negotiate in good faith.”Trump has already announced deal outlines with five countries — Britain, Vietnam, Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines — as well as the one with the 27-nation EU.Beijing says it wants to see “reciprocity” in its trade with the United States. Foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said dialogue was needed “to reduce misunderstandings”.The previous round of China-US talks was held in London.Analysts said many of the trade deals Trump has been publicising were leaning more on optics than on details.Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management, a firm that advises on currency exchange and commodities, said an extension of the 90-day truce between China and the United States could reinforce that view.”That truce could set the stage for a Trump – (President) Xi (Jinping) handshake later this year — another risk-on carrot for markets to chew,” he said.

The United States and China were aiming Tuesday to extend a tariffs truce that has seen them lower tit-for-tat levies from punishing levels, after the latest two-day round of talks to reach a trade deal ahead of an August 12 deadline.China’s international trade representative Li Chenggang said the talks in Stockholm were “candid, in-depth, constructive”, according to state news agency Xinhua.US President Donald Trump sparked the trade dispute after returning to office earlier this year, leading to escalating tariffs on both sides that reached triple-digit levels, throwing businesses and supply chains into disarray. The two countries exchanged views on major trade and economic concerns, Li said, and are due to maintain close communications.The US delegation, led by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, has not yet issued any statements over the talks.The negotiations are happening in the wake of a US-EU trade deal struck over the weekend that set US tariffs on most EU imports at 15 percent, but none on US goods going to the European Union.The truce between China and the United States, the world’s two largest economies, has temporarily set US duties on Chinese goods at 30 percent, and Chinese levies on US ones at 10 percent.That accord, reached in Geneva in May, brought down the tariffs each side had levelled at the other after Trump embarked on his trade war. The 90-day truce is meant to end on August 12, but there are indications both delegations want to use the Stockholm talks to push the date back further.The South China Morning Post, citing sources on both sides, reported Sunday that Washington and Beijing were expected to extend their tariff pause by a further 90 days.- Trump threats -Trump has threatened to hit dozens of other countries with stiffer tariffs starting Friday unless they agree to trade deals with Washington.Among them are Brazil and India, which he has warned could be targeted for 50 percent tariffs.Trump has already announced deal outlines with five countries — Britain, Vietnam, Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines — as well as the one with the 27-nation EU.Beijing says it wants to see “reciprocity” in its trade with the United States, and foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said dialogue was needed “to reduce misunderstandings”.The previous round of China-US talks was held in London.Analysts say many of the trade deals Trump has been publicising are leaning more on optics than on details.

Stock markets were mixed on Tuesday as investors started turning their attention from trade deals to a slew of company results falling this week.New York struggled, while in Europe, London, Paris and Frankfurt all closed higher.In Asia, Shanghai ended higher but Hong Kong and Tokyo lost ground.The muddled picture came as investors continue to digest the implications of a US-EU trade deal announced on the weekend that many European capitals viewed as lopsided in Washington’s favour.Tuesday also saw Chinese and US officials huddle in Sweden for a second day of talks aimed at extending a trade truce to avoid the return of triple-digit tariffs on each of their countries from August 12.”The latest surveys point to further weakness to come” in global trade, said Ariane Curtis, a senior analyst at Capital Economics.The dollar continued its advance, especially against the euro, while oil prices kept rising strongly.The euro has “suffered a nasty battering… as investors questioned just how positive the US-EU trade deal was for the European Union”, said David Morrison, senior market analyst at Trade Nation.For many investors, though, the focus this week was now more on company earning reports.Tech heavyweights are stealing the spotlight, with Meta and Microsoft to give results on Wednesday, followed by Amazon and Apple on Thursday.Their massive — and extremely costly — investment race in artificial intelligence underpinned much of the action.Bloomberg News reported that Microsoft was in talks to keep access to OpenAI technology, even if the ChatGPT maker achieves AI that goes beyond human intelligence.Thomas Mathews, a markets analyst at Capital Economics, said: “With the worst of the risks around trade seemingly fading, we suspect there are fewer remaining obstacles to further investor enthusiasm for AI and its implications for US companies.”European carmakers — especially those in Germany — pursued their drop from Monday as investors balked at the US tariffs they face.Stellantis, owner of brands including Jeep, Fiat and Peugeot, ended 0.6 percent lower as it said it expected profits to rebound later this year, despite taking a a 1.5-billion-euro ($1.7-billion) hit from the US tariffs.It was mixed fortunes for pharmaceutical stocks.AstraZeneca, up more than three percent, helped buoy London’s FTSE after posting strong earnings.But Denmark’s Novo Nordisk, known for its blockbuster diabetes and weight-loss treatments Ozempic and Wegovy, shed 23 percent on lowered forecasts. It has been fighting US authorisation allowing pharmacies to create “compound” copycat versions of its drugs because of shortages due to high demand.Merck, the US pharma company, pared a drop in its shares but was still down four percent after saying it would axe jobs under a restructuring aimed at cutting $3 billion in costs a year by 2027.Swedish music streamer Spotify’s shares slid 11 percent after it reported an operating profit that far missed its target.The US Federal Reserve, meanwhile, was to begin Tuesday its two-day policy meeting under increasing pressure from President Donald Trump to slash rates, despite stubbornly high inflation.- Key figures at around 1545 GMT -New York – Dow: DOWN 0.4 percent at 44,642.36 pointsNew York – S&P 500: DOWN 0.2 percent at 6,374.57New York – Nasdaq Composite: DOWN 0.3 percent at 21,113.42London – FTSE 100: UP 0.6 percent at 9,138.85 (close)Paris – CAC 40: UP 0.7 percent at 7,851.54 (close)Frankfurt – DAX: UP 1.0 percent at 24,198.28 (close)Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.8 percent at 40,674.55 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.2 percent at 25,524.45 (close)Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.3 percent at 3,609.71 (close)Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1532 from $1.1597 on MondayPound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3333 from $1.3356Dollar/yen: DOWN at 148.41 yen from 148.52 yenEuro/pound: DOWN at 86.49 pence from 86.80 penceBrent North Sea Crude: UP 1.2 percent at $70.17 per barrelWest Texas Intermediate: UP 1.4 percent at $67.62 per barrel

The IMF raised its global growth forecast Tuesday as efforts to circumvent Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs sparked a bigger-than-expected surge in trade, while the US president stepped back from some of his harshest threats.The International Monetary Fund still sees growth slowing this year, however, even as it lifted its 2025 projection to 3.0 percent — up from 2.8 percent in April — in its World Economic Outlook update.In 2024, global growth came in at 3.3 percent.Looking ahead, the IMF expects the world economy to expand 3.1 percent next year, an improvement from the 3.0 percent it earlier predicted.Despite the upward revisions, “there are reasons to be very cautious,” IMF chief economist Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas told AFP.”Businesses were trying to frontload, move stuff around, before the tariffs were imposed, and so that’s supporting economic activity,” he said.”There is going to be payback for that. If you stock the shelves now, you don’t need to stock them later in the year or into the next year,” he added.This means a likelihood of reduced trade activity in the second half of the year and into 2026.”The global economy has continued to hold steady, but the composition of activity points to distortions from tariffs, rather than underlying robustness,” the IMF’s report said.For now, a “modest decline in trade tensions, however fragile, has contributed to the resilience of the global economy,” Gourinchas told reporters Tuesday.Trump imposed a 10 percent levy on almost all trading partners this year, alongside steeper duties on autos, steel and aluminum.He paused higher tariffs on dozens of economies until August 1, a significant delay from April when they were first unveiled.Washington and Beijing also agreed to lower for 90 days triple-digit duties on each other’s goods, in a halt expiring August 12. Talks that could lead to a further extension of the truce are ongoing.Trump’s actions have brought the US effective tariff rate to 17.3 percent, significantly above the 3.5 percent level for the rest of the world, the IMF said.If deals unravel or tariffs rebound to higher levels, global output would be 0.3 percent down next year, Gourinchas said.- US inflation hit -US growth for 2025 was revised 0.1 percentage points up, to 1.9 percent, with tariffs anticipated to settle at lower levels than initially announced in April.The country is also set to see a near-term boost from Trump’s flagship tax and spending bill.Euro area growth was adjusted 0.2 percentage points higher to 1.0 percent, partly reflecting a jump in Irish pharmaceutical exports to the United States to avoid fresh duties.Among European economies, Germany is still expected to avoid contraction while forecasts for France and Spain remained unchanged at 0.6 percent and 2.5 percent respectively.While the IMF anticipates global inflation to keep declining, with headline inflation cooling to 4.2 percent this year, it warned that US price increases will remain above target.”The tariffs, acting as a supply shock, are expected to pass through to US consumer prices gradually and hit inflation in the second half of 2025,” the IMF report said.Elsewhere, Trump’s duties “constitute a negative demand shock, lowering inflationary pressures,” the report added.- China challenges -Growth in the world’s number-two economy China, however, was revised 0.8 percentage points upwards to 4.8 percent.This reflects stronger-than-expected activity in the first half of 2025, alongside “the significant reduction in US–China tariffs,” the IMF said.Gourinchas warned that China is still experiencing headwinds, with “fairly weak” domestic demand.”There is relatively little consumer confidence, the property sector is still a black spot in the Chinese economy, it’s not been completely addressed,” he added. “That is resulting in a drag on economic activity going forward.”Russia’s growth was revised 0.6 percentage points down, to 0.9 percent, partially due to Russian policies but also oil prices, which are set to remain relatively subdued compared with 2024 levels, Gourinchas said.

European stocks rallied Tuesday, lifted by a slew of corporate earnings and as investors further assessed the impact of the EU-US trade agreement.Investors’ attention turned also to the release of key US economic indicators and the Federal Reserve’s next policy decision due Wednesday. US President Donald Trump’s agreement with the European Union on Sunday saw tariffs set at 15 percent, down from a threatened 30 percent, which helped ease trade war fears. The Paris and Frankfurt stock markets jumped around 1.5 percent in early afternoon deals. London also advanced, boosted by a three-percent rise to the share price of heavyweight AstraZeneca after the drugmaker posted strong earnings.Market sentiment had been cautious Monday “as the narrative took hold that the EU had failed to secure meaningful concessions from the US”, noted Deutsche Bank analyst Jim Reid.But Tuesday saw “optimism that businesses can now start to operate with greater certainty in Europe”, said Joshua Mahony, chief market analyst at Rostro trading group.The euro, however, remained under pressure against the dollar on concerns about the impact of the trade deal on the eurozone economy. After a tepid day on Wall Street — which still saw the S&P and Nasdaq hit records — Asia markets were mixed.Tokyo and Hong Kong closed in the red, while Shanghai rose.Traders kept an eye on US talks with other major economies, including India and South Korea, and negotiations between top US and Chinese officials in Stockholm.Talks continued on Tuesday, with hopes that Beijing and Washington would extend a 90-day truce on higher tariffs that ends on August 12.Investors also awaited a busy few days of earnings from tech titans Apple, Microsoft, Meta and Amazon, as well as data on US economic growth and jobs.That all comes as the Fed concludes its policy meeting amid increasing pressure from Trump to slash rates, even with inflation staying stubbornly high.While rates are expected to be unchanged Wednesday, markets will scrutinise the Fed’s statement for hints on its outlook for the second half of the year.Oil prices extended Monday’s rise after Trump shortened a deadline for Russia to end its war in Ukraine to August 7 or 9, following which he vowed to sanction countries buying its crude.In company news, shares in Jeep owner Stellantis fell around two percent in Paris after it reported a 1.5-billion-euro ($1.7-billion) hit from US tariffs, even as it flagged a gradual improvement in sales revenues.Shares in eyewear giant EssilorLuxottica jumped nearly seven percent on strong second quarter results, topping the Paris CAC 40 index.In London, UK bank Barclays rose one percent after reporting higher second-quarter profits driven by market volatility from US tariffs, while Games Workshop climbed five percent on stronger annual profits.- Key figures at around 1050 GMT -London – FTSE 100: UP 0.7 percent at 9,144.03 pointsParis – CAC 40: UP 1.6 percent at 7,921.45 Frankfurt – DAX: UP 1.4 percent at 24,297.24Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.8 percent at 40,674.55 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.2 percent at 25,524.45 (close)Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.3 percent at 3,609.71 (close)New York – Dow: DOWN 0.1 percent at 44,837.56 (close)Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1581 from $1.1597 on MondayPound/dollar: UP at $1.3362 from $1.3356Dollar/yen: UP at 148.53 yen from 148.52 yenEuro/pound: DOWN at 86.68 pence from 86.80 penceBrent North Sea Crude: UP 0.4 percent at $69.57 per barrelWest Texas Intermediate: UP 0.3 percent at $66.92 per barrel

Chinese and US delegations met for their second day of trade negotiations in Stockholm, with both sides said to be aiming to extend a truce due to end in two weeks’ time.AFP journalists saw officials from both sides, led respectively by Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng and US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, enter the Swedish government building serving as the talks venue.Neither side has so far made public any information about what has gone on in the talks, which started on Monday.The negotiations are happening in the wake of a US-EU trade deal struck over the weekend that set US tariffs on most EU imports at 15 percent, but none on US goods going to the EU.The truce between China and the United States, the countries with the worlds two top economies, has temporarily set US duties on Chinese goods at 30 percent, and Chinese levies on US ones at 10 percent.That accord, reached in Geneva in May, brought down triple-digit tariffs each side had levelled at the other after a trade war sparked by US President Donald Trump spiralled into a tit-for-tat bilateral escalation.The 90-day truce is meant to end on August 12. But there are indications both delegations want to use the Stockholm talks to push the date back further.The South China Morning Post, citing sources on both sides, reported on Sunday that Washington and Beijing are expected to extend their tariff pause by a further 90 days.- Trump’s threats -Trump has threatened to hit dozens of other countries with stiffer tariffs from Friday this week unless they agree to trade deals with Washington.Among them are Brazil and India, which he has warned could be targeted for 50-percent tariffs.The US leader has already announced deal outlines with five countries — Britain, Vietnam, Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines — as well as the one with the 27-nation EU.Beijing says it wants to see “reciprocity” in its trade with the United States. Foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said dialogue was need “to reduce misunderstandings”.The previous round of of China-US talks was held in London.Analysts said many of the trade deals Trump has been publicising were leaning more on optics than on details.Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management, a firm that advises on currency exchange and commodities, said an extension of the 90-day truce between China and the United States could reinforce that view.”That truce could set the stage for a Trump – (President) Xi (Jinping) handshake later this year — another risk-on carrot for markets to chew,” he said.