<p class="title">Japanese stocks rose on Monday by the most in three weeks as investors turned optimistic about the chance that the United States and China will reach an agreement to de-escalate their trade war.</p>.<p class="bodytext">At 0142 GMT the Nikkei index was up 0.88% to 23,315.15 as exporters in the industrial equipment sector and the IT sector led the advance, because they benefit from an increase in overseas demand.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The latest wave of optimism came after U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday a trade deal with China is "potentially very close." Chinese President Xi Jinping also reiterated his desire on Friday for a preliminary trade deal.</p>.<p class="bodytext">However, some traders say they remain sceptical because negotiations between the world's two-largest economies have been fraught and conflicting signals from both sides have caused markets to swing between gains and losses.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"There have been some comments suggesting progress in resolving the U.S.-China dispute, but there are still a lot of risks posed by things like the situation in Hong Kong," said Shusuke Yamada, head of FX and Japan equity strategy at Merrill Lynch Japan Securities in Tokyo.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Hope hasn't completely collapsed, but we need to closely watch how this plays out."</p>.<p class="bodytext">There were 206 advancers on the Nikkei index against 16 decliners on Monday.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The largest percentage gainers in the index were industrial components maker TDK Corp, which rose 3.48%, followed by non-ferrous metal producer Toho Zinc Co Ltd, gaining 3.42%, and Hitachi Construction Machinery Co Ltd, up by 3.36%.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The largest percentage losses in the index were Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Co Ltd, down 2.35%, followed by Hino Motors Ltd, losing 2.03% and electronics maker Panasonic Corp, down by 1.54%.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Washington and Beijing have imposed tariffs on each other's goods in a 16-month long dispute over Chinese trade practices that the U.S. government says are unfair.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The tariffs have slowed trade flows and economic growth, making them the biggest risk to the global economy.</p>.<p class="bodytext">If the two sides can agree to roll back even some of these tariffs, that could spark a global rally in equities and other risk assets.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The volume of shares traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's main board was 0.4 billion, compared to the average of 1.27 billion in the past 30 days.</p>
<p class="title">Japanese stocks rose on Monday by the most in three weeks as investors turned optimistic about the chance that the United States and China will reach an agreement to de-escalate their trade war.</p>.<p class="bodytext">At 0142 GMT the Nikkei index was up 0.88% to 23,315.15 as exporters in the industrial equipment sector and the IT sector led the advance, because they benefit from an increase in overseas demand.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The latest wave of optimism came after U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday a trade deal with China is "potentially very close." Chinese President Xi Jinping also reiterated his desire on Friday for a preliminary trade deal.</p>.<p class="bodytext">However, some traders say they remain sceptical because negotiations between the world's two-largest economies have been fraught and conflicting signals from both sides have caused markets to swing between gains and losses.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"There have been some comments suggesting progress in resolving the U.S.-China dispute, but there are still a lot of risks posed by things like the situation in Hong Kong," said Shusuke Yamada, head of FX and Japan equity strategy at Merrill Lynch Japan Securities in Tokyo.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Hope hasn't completely collapsed, but we need to closely watch how this plays out."</p>.<p class="bodytext">There were 206 advancers on the Nikkei index against 16 decliners on Monday.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The largest percentage gainers in the index were industrial components maker TDK Corp, which rose 3.48%, followed by non-ferrous metal producer Toho Zinc Co Ltd, gaining 3.42%, and Hitachi Construction Machinery Co Ltd, up by 3.36%.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The largest percentage losses in the index were Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Co Ltd, down 2.35%, followed by Hino Motors Ltd, losing 2.03% and electronics maker Panasonic Corp, down by 1.54%.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Washington and Beijing have imposed tariffs on each other's goods in a 16-month long dispute over Chinese trade practices that the U.S. government says are unfair.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The tariffs have slowed trade flows and economic growth, making them the biggest risk to the global economy.</p>.<p class="bodytext">If the two sides can agree to roll back even some of these tariffs, that could spark a global rally in equities and other risk assets.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The volume of shares traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's main board was 0.4 billion, compared to the average of 1.27 billion in the past 30 days.</p>