EGRNF China Evergrande Group (CE)

Asian shares traded in positive territory Tuesday as gains in commodity stocks helped offset weakness overnight in U.S. markets.

The Nikkei Stock Average rose 0.2% with the S&P/ASX 200 up 0.2% and Korea's Kospi up 0.3%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was down 0.1% while the Shanghai Composite was flat.

Traders sent U.S. oil prices up 2.9% to US$43.02 a barrel following news that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries planned to hold informal talks in September that could lead to production cuts.

ANZ Research said traders shrugged off the disappointing China July crude import data and were focusing on the OPEC meeting, lifting sentiment for commodities prices generally.

"China's weak commodity imports data had little impact on prices, with investors focused on positive economic data in the G-8. The strong rise in oil prices should support the wider sector today," ANZ said.

China's crude imports in July fell to a six-month low on slowing demand from small independent refiners.

"China's July trade data released yesterday further underscored the improved global demand for commodities," said IG market analyst Angus Nicholson, adding that the volume of copper and iron ore imported by China continued to grow at strong levels in July.

In China, consumer inflation moderated for a third month in a row in July, well within the government's comfort zone. China's consumer-price index climbed 1.8% in July from a year earlier, compared with a 1.9% increase in June.

July's rise was in line with market expectations, with Beijing planning to cap consumer inflation at 3% this year. Tuesday's data showed that the central bank doesn't have to worry on the price front, at least for now, as it seeks to manage interest rates and the yuan rate.

"Coal and steel prices picked up significantly on speculation that increased government spending on infrastructure projects will lift demand for hard commodities," said Zhou Hao, senior emerging markets economist for Asia at Commerzbank AG.

Elsewhere, preliminary data from South Korea's finance ministry showed retail sales continued to pick up.

Sales at the country's top department stores rose 10.5% in July from a year earlier after the previous month's 13.5% gain. Sales at leading discount-store chains rose 5.8% in July from a year ago after a 2.9% rise in the preceding month. The trade ministry will release confirmed July retail-sales data later this month.

Meanwhile, China Vanke Co. disclosed late Monday that a consortium of seven investment firms controlled by China Evergrande Group had acquired a 5% stake in the company over a span of two weeks from July 25 to Aug. 8.

Debt-laden China Evergrande has increased its total position in China Vanke to 9.68%, making it the company's third-largest shareholder after Baoneng Group and state-run China Resources. China Vanke fell on news, dropping about 1% in Shenzhen trade.

Gold was trading 0.1% lower. Oil gave up its overnight gains to trade slightly lower in Asian trade. Nymex is down 23 cents at $42.79 a barrel with Brent trading down 24 cents at $45.15 a barrel.

Jenny Hsu, Liyan Qi, Kwanwoo Jun, Robb Stewart and Dominique Fong contributed to this article.

Write to Kenan Machado at kenan.machado@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 09, 2016 00:15 ET (04:15 GMT)

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