Asian stocks edged up on Thursday on signs the United States and China were on track for a preliminary trade deal, though optimism was tempered by the almost daily shifts in prospects for defusing the damaging tariff war now in its second year.

The fluid situation around Sino-U.S. trade negotiations has cast a pall on financial markets heading into Christmas, with major economies grappling under the weight of weak exports, investments and corporate profits.

Investors were quick to latch on to a Bloomberg report on Wednesday that Washington and Beijing are closer to agreeing how many tariffs would be rolled back in a "phase one" trade deal.

U.S. President Donald Trump later said that negotiations with China are going "very well," providing a boost to riskier assets and denting safe havens like the Japanese yen.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.3%. Australian shares were up 0.9%, while Japan's Nikkei stock index rose 0.81%.

Source : Reuters