Shares higher as they await Trump’s speech on trade

World shares inched higher on Tuesday as investors awaited a speech by President Donald Trump on U.S. trade policy and on news he was likely to delay a decision on European auto tariffs.

The pan-European STOXX 600 shuffled 0.2% higher, back towards 4-year highs helped by upbeat chipmaker shares. MSCI’s broadest index of AsiaPacific shares outside Japan had climbed 0.5%, following a sharp 1.2% pullback on Monday.

Japan’s Nikkei, which dithered either side of flat most of the day, ended 0.8% higher. But Shanghai blue chips eased 0.2% after bank lending growth undershot analysts’ estimates, while Australian shares were down, too.

Trump wrongfooted markets over the weekend when he said there had been incorrect reporting about U.S. willingness to lift tariffs on China. Investors were also anxious about the situation in Hong Kong after a violent escalation of protests had knocked 3% off the Hang Seng and nearly 2% off Asia-exposed banks HSBC and StanChart in recent days.

Hong Kong’s embattled leader Carrie Lam on Tuesday said protesters who are trying to “paralyze” the city were extremely selfish and hoped all universities and schools would urge students not to participate in violence.

Lam was speaking a day after police shot a protester and a man was set on fire in some of the most dramatic scenes to grip the city during the more than five months of civil unrest. The Hang Seng managed to claw back 0.5%.

In currency markets, the main mover was sterling which gave back ground after surging on Monday after the Brexit Party said it would not contest previously Conservative held seats in the last UK election. It had jumped to a 6month high versus the euro and as much as 1% on the dollar but shed around 0.3% to 0.86 per euro and $1.2823 when Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage then said on Tuesday he would not give any more ground.