China is going to this week's G20 summit in Argentina with hopes of striking a deal with the United States, Beijing's ambassador to the United States told Reuters on Tuesday.
Separately, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said on Tuesday that U.S. President Donald Trump was open to a trade deal with China subject to conditions.
"Market participants are weighing the prospect of a trade truce following Trump-Xi's dinner scheduled on this Saturday as the U.S. side scaled back from Trump's earlier tough tone on potentially raising tariffs further on Chinese imports," Huani Zhu, an economist at Mizuho Bank, said in a report.
Asian shares were largely higher on Wednesday and in South East Asia, Vietnamese stocks <.VNI> led the gains with a 0.8 percent rise, helped by financials and consumer staples stocks.
Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam gained 3.2 percent, while Saigon Beer Alcohol Beverage Corp added 3.3 percent.
Thai stocks <.SETI> rose 0.4 percent, as a bounce in oil prices supported energy stocks. PTT PCL firmed 0.5 percent, while Siam Cement PCL climbed 1.8 percent.
Singaporean stocks <.STI> ticked up marginally, helped largely by technology shares. Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd rose 0.3 percent, while Golden Agri-Resources Ltd gained 6.7 percent.
However, Philippine stocks <.PSI> ended 0.4 percent lower, snapping four consecutive sessions of gains, a period in which it gained 2.03 percent.
The benchmark was dragged lower by real estate and financial stocks. Ayala Land Inc dipped 1.6 percent, while SM Prime Holdings Inc slid 1.2 percent.
Meanwhile, telecom and materials shares drove Indonesian stocks <.JKSE> 0.4 percent lower.
Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Persero) Tbk Perusahaan Perseroan PT dropped 4.1 percent, while Pabrik Kertas Tjiwi Kimia Tbk PT plunged 9.1 percent, to its lowest close in two weeks.
(Reporting by Shreya Mariam Job in Bengaluru; Editing by Sai Sachin Ravikumar)
By Shreya Mariam Job
