The major Asian market indexes were mixed in early trading Tuesday after CNBC reported that the mood in Beijing was pessimistic. The news organization, citing an anonymous government source, reported that President Donald Trump's reluctance to roll back tariffs was dampening China's outlook on trade talks.
Japan's Nikkei 225 (N225) declined 0.3%, while South Korea's Kospi Index (KOSPI) fell 0.5%. China's Shanghai Composite (SHCOMP) slumped 0.2%, but recovered those losses and was last trading up 0.4%.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index (HSI) started in the red, but was last trading up about 1%. Hong Kong stocks have been trying to claw back some losses after last week, when the index recorded its worst stretch since early August amid worsening protests in the city.

"With no significant data releases in Asia today, attention in the region will remain focused on trade concerns and Hong Kong," said Jeffrey Halley, a market analyst with the research firm Oanda, in a note. "Neither is likely to inspire the confidence of market participants."
US stock futures were last trading slightly positive during Asian trading hours after recording small losses earlier.
A breakthrough in the US-China trade deal has remained just out of reach for quite some time. Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping have been expected to sign a partial trade deal for about a month, but those negotiations hit another snag last week.
The US government on Monday did extend a temporary general license allowing American companies to sell to Huawei, the embattled Chinese tech company that has become a symbol of tensions between the two countries. It's the third 90-day extension of the license, which is now set to expire in February.

Dorj Odbayar, 52, is accused of sexually harassing a female flight attendant while on a Korean Air flight from Ulaanbaatar bound for Incheon Airport on 31 October. Later, he returned to Mongolia on 14 November after paying KRW 7 million to a South Korean court.

According to the spokesman, the ceremony will be held on November 26, Mongolia’s Independence Day.

"As of now, Mongolia has no military aviation but for helicopters. Now it will have two MiG-29 jets," he said, adding that the General Staff of the Mongolian Armed Forces had already confirmed the date of the official handover ceremony.

The objective of the agreement is to generate economic opportunities for the Ekuanitshit community and to support the development of Rio Tinto’s mine in the Minganie region of Quebec’s North Shore.

Located 43 km northeast of the town of Havre-Saint-Pierre, Rio Tinto’s Lac Tio open-pit mine extracts titanium dioxide from the world’s largest solid ilmenite deposit. The mine has been operating since 1948.

The Lac Tio mine, which employs approximately 250 people on Québec’s North Shore.
Currently the mine employs around 250 people and spent over C$8 million with local suppliers in 2018, making a significant contribution to the North Coast’s economy.

Under the agreement, Rio Tinto will support initiatives in four main areas: education and jobs, economic development, the environment and Innu culture.

“This agreement provides a framework for collaboration and the foundation for a long-term partnership between Rio Tinto and the Ekuanitshit community,” Rio Tinto Fer et Titane managing director Guy GaudreaulIt stated in a media release.

He believes the Uauitshitun partnership will bring “significant benefits for the people of Minganie” and support the future of the Lac Tio mine, which plays an important role in the region’s economy.

“We are committed to working together to pursue our development in a responsible and sustainable manner,” GaudreaulIt added.

Rio Tinto and the Ekuanitshit community have been engaged in a formal process of reconciliation and dialogue for nearly 10 years. The Uauitshitun partnership was first discussed and approved by the Council of the Innu of Ekuanitshit before being presented to an assembly of community members, where it was adopted by consensus.

“The signing of the Uauitshitun agreement is a historic moment for the Ekuanitshit community. This agreement is based on the principles of mutual support and respect, while being resolutely forward-looking. In partnership with Rio Tinto, we will leverage our businesses and our skills to ensure the prosperity of our community and future generations,” said Jean-Charles Piétacho, Chief of the Council of the Innu of Ekuanitshit.

New Delhi is seeking to reduce the upfront payments of around ten percent of the estimated value of blocks that have been awarded, said Vinod Kumar Tiwari, additional secretary at India's Ministry of Coal.“We are thinking of lowering that,” Tiwari said, without specifying by how much.

According to another coal ministry official, a final roadmap will only be ready after a meeting of top government officials.

The coal ministry said last month that the government is considering making investing in coal more attractive to bidders by carving out bigger blocks.

“The big mining companies might not be interested as you don't have much flexibility selling this coal outside India,” said an unnamed executive at a large Indian miner.

“It will all depend on the tenders. If they make it too rigid and too tight, without giving any margins, then foreign parties won't come,” he explained.

In August, the government allowed 100 percent foreign investment in coal mining and contract manufacturing.

In Mongolia, matters related to trade are regulated by over 100 articles of 57 laws, with foreign trade managed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and domestic trade managed by the Ministry of Food, Agriculture, and Light Industry.

Head of the Policy and Planning Department of the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Light Industry M.Enkh-Amar said, “The trade sector is the main way to support business and industry. However, the appropriate legal environment is yet to be developed in our country. The Ministry is currently developing a bill that will regulate foreign and domestic trade under a comprehensive system, creating a legal framework that includes all stakeholders, and working on having the bill approved by the current Government and Parliament.”

Mongolia is able to conduct foreign trade and services with the 164 member countries of the World Trade Organization. With the Free Trade Agreement established with Japan in 2016, works are being done on lowering the customs duties for about 9,000 types of products step-by-step, gradually reaching zero. Furthermore, in the framework of the Generalized Scheme of Preferences programme of the European Union, about 7,000 types of products can be entered the market free of customs duties.

The mining sector growth made about 1.5 percentage points or 24 percent of the GDP rise. Service sector includes trade, transportation, and communication sectors, which depend on the mining sector, showing that Mongolia’s economy is still encouraged by the growth in mining. In terms of the largest mining companies’ performance, Erdenes Tavan Tolgoi JSC exported 12.6 million tons of coal in the first 10 months and Energy Resource LLC 4.2 million tons of coal. Coal exports have reached 32.3 million tons, a 5 percent increase from the same period of last year.Thus, 524 national companies have supplied their products and services to Oyu Tolgoi (OT) LLC during the reporting period. OT spent USD 329 million on national procurement and the construction of Shaft 2 at the Oyu Tolgoi mine has been declared complete.The World Bank highlighted in its report in October, “In Mongolia, growth momentum has continued in the first half of 2019, as GDP rose to 7.3 percent from 6.8 percent in 2018. This robust performance has largely been supported by a strong coal sector and increased private investment. However, the report cautions of the risks including political uncertainty, commodity price shocks, cross border bottlenecks, implementation delay mega projects and slower implementation of banking sector reforms.”In addition to the main economic indicators, inflation has also declined. Consumer price index (CPI) at the national level, which increased 9 percent in September, rose 7.6 percent in October. In October 2019, a 5.1 percent increase in CPI from the end of the previous year was mainly due to increases in prices for meat and meat products by 27.4 percent and clothing, cloth and footwear for each group by 5.4 percent and alcoholic beverages, tobacco group by 2.7 percent, respectively.Meat prices have risen by 30 percent year on year, but have dropped by about 4 percent in October, compared to the previous month. However, the inflation rate in Ulaanbaatar is 8.5 percent, which exceeds the Bank of Mongolia (BoM)’s target.

The world’s second-biggest listed miner, which has a 68.4% stake in ERA, also said it will fully underwrite ERA’s A$476 million ($326 million) equity fundraising, after the uranium miner failed to secure someone else willing to do so.

Shares of ERA slumped 22.5% to A$0.190 on Friday, their lowest in almost five months, in a broader market that was up around a percent.

ERA has been looking to raise money to fund the closure and rehabilitation of the Ranger project in Australia’s Northern Territory after it ran into controversy due to its proximity to the Kakadu National Park – the country’s largest.

The Australian Government has documented more than 200 environmental incidents at the mine between 1979 and 2003.

ERA said it has been working closely with Rio for a funding solution after flagging, earlier this year, a higher-than-expected rehabilitation provision for the Ranger project which it could not cover.

“We take mine closure very seriously and ensuring ERA is able to fund the closure and rehabilitation of the Ranger Project Area, through participating in this entitlement offer, is a priority,” Rio’s group executive for energy and minerals, Bold Baatar, said in a statement.

ERA has until January 2021 to end mining activities, and until January 2026 to complete rehabilitation of the area. The rehabilitation work will not lead to any returns for ERA.

ERA was the target of some of the biggest environmental protests across Australia in 1998, including an eight-month blockade and 500 arrests, after the local indigenous Mirarr people opposed its planned development of the nearby Jabiluka concession on the fringe of the Kakadu rainforest.

($1 = 1.4588 Australian dollars)

(By Nikhil Kurian Nainan and Melanie Burton; Editing by Muralikumar

In a statement Sunday, Saudi Aramco said it was aiming to sell about 1.5% of its 200 billion shares in a partial privatization for between 30 riyals ($8) and 32 riyals ($8.53) each.
That means Aramco, the most profitable company in the world, could be worth between 6 trillion riyals ($1.6 trillion) and 6.4 trillion riyals ($1.7 trillion) — making it also by far the world's most valuable company ahead of Apple (AAPL).
That won't be the only record to fall if Aramco achieves the higher price: at that level, the share sale would raise just over $25 billion, making it slightly bigger than Alibaba's (BABA) 2014 debut on the New York Stock Exchange, so far the world's biggest IPO.
Saudi Arabia is selling shares in Aramco for the first time as part of an economic diversification plan aimed at weaning the kingdom off oil.
Aramco has vast oil reserves and massive daily output. It holds a monopoly in Saudi Arabia, the world's largest exporter of crude. It made $111 billion in profit in 2018, and has promised to pay an annual dividend of $75 billion through 2024.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had reportedly sought a valuation for Aramco near $2 trillion. But low oil prices, the climate crisis and geopolitical risk have raised skepticism among international investors. Up to 0.5% of the company will be sold to individuals, with the remainder offered to institutional investors.
Aramco may need to heavily rely on rich local families, sympathetic sovereign wealth funds or major customers such as China signing up for shares. Reuters reported Sunday that Aramco will not market the IPO abroad.
The price for the shares will be set on December 5, with trading on the Saudi stock exchange expected to start later that month, according to Aramco's prospectus.
Wall Street's biggest names are advising Saudi Arabia on the privatization, despite pressure from activists who say financing fossil fuel companies will worsen the climate crisis. They have also urged banks not to do business with the kingdom because of its human rights record, including the brutal murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.
Aramco listed Bank of America (BAC), Goldman Sachs (GS), JPMorgan (JPM), Citigroup (C), Credit Suisse (CS), Morgan Stanley (MS) and HSBC (HBCYF) as joint financial advisers on the transaction. They have all previously declined to comment to CNN Business.
— John Defterios and Julia Horowitz contributed to this article.