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Hong Kong (AFP)

Hong Kong led a rally in Asian markets on Thursday following reports that the US had reached out to China in a fresh bid to avert a trade war, providing some much-needed respite to weary investors.

News that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin had invited top Chinese officials for talks comes just under a week after Donald Trump threatened to impose tariffs on all $500 billion worth of imports from China.

The president's top economics adviser Larry Kudlow called the move a "positive thing" and added that "you could say that communication has picked up a notch".

Investors welcomed the reports with Hong Kong soaring 1.9 percent, having fallen for six straight days and into a bear market, which is a 20 percent drop from its January record high.

Shanghai climbed 0.8 percent, Singapore added 0.3 percent and Seoul gained 0.1 percent while Tokyo ended the morning session 0.8 percent higher.

"Markets should welcome the news of possible resumption of high-level trade talks between China and the US," said Tai Hui, JP Morgan Asset Management chief market strategist for Asia-Pacific.

"This may reflect strong feedback from the US corporate sector against further expansion of the list of Chinese exports that would be subjected to higher tariffs."

However, while he warned the latest round of threatened tariffs could be delayed, he said Beijing had already agreed to buy more American goods to reduce its gaping surplus with the US and open up the economy further, so it might not be able to offer much more.

"The road to a more sustained resolution is still challenging," Tai added.

- US firms worried -

The tariffs are clearly starting to bite US firms.

On Thursday, the American Chamber of Commerce in China said a survey found most companies are seeing rising costs, lower profits and tighter scrutiny.

That comes a day after the Federal Reserve reported increasing fears across the United States about the trade row, with some businesses planning to curtail capital spending, while a new lobby group announced plans to campaign against the levies in November's elections.

The optimism also supported emerging-market and high-yielding currencies that have been battered by a flight to safe-havens such as the dollar and yen.

South Africa's rand rose one percent, the Russian ruble gained 0.8 percent and the Australian dollar jumped 0.9 percent. The South Korean won put on 0.7 percent while the Indonesian rupiah gained 0.3 percent.

Energy firms also climbed with investors keeping tabs on Hurricane Florence as it surges towards the US east coast, with the Carolinas and Georgia in its crosshairs.

Concerns about the massive destruction the storm is likely to cause has helped send oil prices higher, while a forecast-beating draw in US stockpiles added to the increase.

While both main contracts dipped slightly Thursday, Japanese energy firm Inpex and Hong Kong-listed PetroChina soared three percent.

- Key figures around 0230 GMT -

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 0.8 percent at 22,787.33 (break)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng: UP 1.9 percent at 26,840.49

Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.7 percent at 2,675.84

Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1636 from $1.1629 at 2100 GMT

Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3048 from $1.3053

Dollar/yen: UP at 111.38 yen from 111.25 yen

Oil - West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 30 cents at $70.07 per barrel

Oil - Brent Crude: DOWN 23 cents at $79.51 per barrel

New York - Dow Jones: UP 0.1 percent at 25,998.92 (close)

London - FTSE 100: UP 0.6 percent at 7,313.36 (close)

© 2018 AFP