Stocks climb on trade talk vibes, but yuan tumbles

Global stock markets mostly rose Tuesday on hopes a trade war will be avoided following the G7 summit in Biarritz, but China's yuan currency nevertheless slumped to a new 11.5-year low.

Frankfurt and Paris shares advanced solidly, but London less so as British investors played catch-up after a three-day holiday weekend.

Asian equities mainly gained, recovering from the previous day's pounding after President Donald Trump said China-US trade talks would resume soon.

Wall Street came off to a stronger start Tuesday as a more positive trade talk vibe took hold.

China's beleaguered yuan nosedived in morning Tuesday deals to 7.1722 yuan to the dollar -- a level last seen in 2008.

The unit had already plunged Monday on weekend news that Washington would hike tariffs on more than half-a-trillion dollars of Chinese imports, after Beijing unveiled levies on tens of billions of dollars of US goods.

"It's been a rollercoaster ride of trade war sentiment over the last few months and it seems traders have now entered into a state of confusion at where things actually currently stand," said analyst Craig Erlam at trading firm Oanda.

"A sudden and significant escalation in the trade war last week came as China and the US both announced new tariffs -- well, an increase in the case of the latter -- triggering another plunge in stock markets as investors fled for safety.

"This was followed by mixed messages from the US President, who initially admitted to having second thoughts which the White House later clarified as not being more aggressive."