On May 13, 2026, U.S. President Donald Trump received a warm reception upon his arrival in Beijing, marking the beginning of a significant state visit to China.
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Thursday saw a mixed performance in Asia-Pacific markets as investors awaited the pivotal meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. This meeting is expected to provide insights into the future dynamics of U.S.-China relations and global trade.
President Trump touched down in Beijing on Wednesday for the highly anticipated summit. He was accompanied by a contingent of U.S. business leaders, including Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Nvidia Chief Executive Jensen Huang.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index experienced a modest increase of 0.27%, whereas the Topix index declined by 0.23%. South Korea’s Kospi index saw a rise of 0.38%, and the smaller Kosdaq index surged by 1.31%.
Shares of Samsung surged as much as 5.46%, setting a new record high. This came after the tech giant lost $66 billion in market value on Wednesday due to a labor dispute that posed the risk of one of the largest strikes in its history.
This comes as the labor union threatened an 18-day strike from May 21 if its demands were not met. More than 41,000 workers are expected to join the walkout, which was first announced at a rally on April 23.
South Korea’s finance minister Koo Yun-cheol warned Thursday that a potential strike by Samsung workers could pose a major threat to the country’s economic growth, exports and financial markets.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.16%.
Hong Kong Hang Seng index rose 1.32%, while the CSI 300 added 0.27%.
Analysts at Goldman Sachs said they expect the Trump-Xi meeting to focus narrowly on trade and export controls, including tariffs, restrictions on rare earths and semiconductors, rather than producing a sweeping reset in bilateral ties.
The investment bank said China could agree to step up purchases of U.S. farm goods, energy and aircraft in exchange for avoiding further tariff hikes.
“While unlikely to be a game changer for US-China relations, we think the meeting could act as a tactical catalyst for strength in the Chinese yuan and Chinese equities,” Goldman’s analysts wrote in a note late Wednesday.
The bank maintained a positive view on China assets, citing the country’s export competitiveness and what it described as an “undervalued” currency, while reiterating an overweight call on Chinese equities, particularly mainland A-shares over Hong Kong-listed H-shares.
In the U.S., futures were little changed. S&P futures and Nasdaq 100 futures climbed 0.1% and 0.4%, respectively. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by 111 points, or nearly 0.3%.
Overnight on Wall Street, the S&P 500 rose to a new all-time high as traders’ enthusiasm for the technology trade overshadowed yet another hotter-than-expected inflation report.
The broad market index rose 0.58% to 7,444.25, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 1.2% to end at 26,402.34. Both hit fresh intraday and closing records. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 67.36 points, or 0.14%, ending at 49,693.20.
— CNBC’s Lim Hui Jie, Lisa Kailai Han and Sean Conlon contributed to this report.
