SYDNEY (Reuters) - Asian shares were subdued on Thursday as a lull in the Sino-U.S. trade tussle helped calm nerves enough for the Nasdaq to reach a record high, while tensions in the oil market grew ahead of an OPEC meeting that may expand crude supply.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS was 0.05 percent firmer, while Japan's Nikkei .N225 edged up 0.12 percent in thin trade.
Futures for the S&P 500 ESc1 added 0.14 percent as traders waited for new developments on global trade.
The mere absence of new threats from President Donald Trump on tariffs was enough to stem recent selling, with investors clinging to the hope that all the bluster was a ploy which would stop short of an outright trade war.
“Many participants see the Trump Administration’s hard line as part of the negotiating strategy,” said Richard Grace, chief currency strategist at CBA.
Markets had also been encouraged by the People’s Bank of China’s move to set a strong fixing for its yuan on Wednesday, along with the addition of extra liquidity.
“The PBoC set the daily reference rate stronger than expected yesterday, implying they are not concerned and have no intention of entering into a ‘currency war’,” said Grace.
He noted there was much speculation the central bank would also cut bank reserve requirements, thus boosting lending power in the economy.
On Wall Street, resilience in tech stocks helped the Nasdaq to an all-time peak, though the moves were modest. While the Dow
