GLOBAL MARKETS-Asian shares firm as investors stay hopeful on U.S.-China disputes

* Nikkei up 0.6%, ex-Japan Asia up 0.23%
* China markets begin one-week holiday closure
* European share futures at highest since June 2018
* Dollar index touches highest level since May 2017
* Asian stock markets: https://tmsnrt.rs/2zpUAr4

By Hideyuki Sano
TOKYO, Oct 1 (Reuters) - Asian share prices ticked up on
Tuesday as some investors clung to hopes the fourth quarter will
bring progress in resolving the United-States trade war that's
cast a shadow over the global economy.
European shares are expected to rise, with pan-European Euro
Stoxx 50 futures STXEc1 trading up 0.39% to hit its highest
levels since June last year.
U.S. stock futures ESc1 rose 0.35% in Asia, a day after
the S&P 500 .SPX gained 0.50%.
Technology sectors led New York gains on Monday while
U.S.-listed shares of Chinese firms bounced up after big falls
on Friday, with Alibaba BABA.N up 0.75% and Baidu BIDU.O
rising 1.53%.
In Asia, the world's largest contract chipmaker TSMC
2330.TW of Taiwan jumped 2.9% to hit an all-time high.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
.MIAPJ0000PUS inched up 0.23% while Japan's Nikkei .N225
rose 0.6% and Australia's benchmark .AXJO by 0.8%, some of
that coming after the central bank cut rates for a third time
this year.
Starting on Tuesday, Chinese markets are shut for a week to
mark 70 years since the founding of the People's Republic of
China.
White House trade adviser Peter Navarro dismissed reports
that the Trump administration was considering delisting Chinese
companies from U.S. stock exchanges as "fake news", giving
short-term players an excuse to buy back risk assets.
"Whether it was a fake news or not, it is becoming harder to
know exactly what the U.S. administration will be doing," said
Takashi Hiroki, chief strategist at Monex Securities.
China and the United States are due to resume high-level
trade talks next week in Washington.
"It's not clear how the U.S.-China talks will progress,
given there are hard-liners against China in the administration.
But if there's no further escalation in the upcoming meeting,
markets will be relieved," Hiroki said.
While the tussle over trade and technology between the
world's two largest economies has intensified, some investors
are sticking to hopes of a compromise.
They say a tentative deal could be reached by the end of
this year, given that President Donald Trump's administration
would strive to avoid the U.S. economy falling into a recession
in an election year.
"While we ought not to have preconception, for Trump, not
having made a deal with China could be increasingly seen as
negative ahead of the election next year," said Tomoo Kinoshita,
chief global strategist at Invesco Asset Management in Tokyo.
In the currency market, the dollar's index .DXY against a
basket of major currencies rose 0.16% to 99.555, its highest
level since May 2017.
The euro extended its decline on worries about sluggish
growth in the currency bloc.
The euro traded at $1.0888 EUR= , having slipped to a near
2 1/2-year low of $1.0885 in U.S. trade on Monday.
The yen was slightly weaker at 108.24 yen to the dollar
JPY= , not far from last month's low of 108.48.
The Japanese currency showed no reaction to the Bank of
Japan's tankan survey showing business confidence at big
Japanese manufacturers worsened in the three months to September
to its lowest level in six years. The Australian dollar lost 0.6% to $0.6713 AUD=D4 , edging
near its 10-year low of $0.66775 set in August, after the
Reserve Bank of Australia cut interest rates for the third time
this year to record low, as expected. The New Zealand dollar slipped to a four-year low of
$0.6234 NZD=D4 , following a recent string of weak local data.
Gold fell to a two-month low on the back of a robust U.S.
dollar, last trading at $1,468.50 per ounce XAU= .
Oil prices rebounded in early Asian trade on Tuesday after
production at the world's largest oil producers fell in the
third quarter, although demand concerns continued to keep a lid
on prices.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 fell 3.3% on
Monday before rise 0.39% early on Tuesday to $54.28 per barrel.

(Editing by Richard Borsuk)