ports region and the clearing up dalian ports region and the clearing up of australian coal from portsd the foreign minister said the chinese companies conducted risk monitoring and analysis on imported coal to safeguard the interests of chinese importers and protect the environment. that is not in saying there is no blocking of australian coal, that is an explanation for why thatis coal, that is an explanation for why that is happening. we asked if it could be for political reasons, given for example australia's blocking of huawei, building the 5g network, could it be punishment for that? the response came that both australia and china should cooperate with one another for mutual benefits. thanks very much, stephen. let's have a look at those market let's have a look at those markets... asian stocks pared gains today as renewed optimism for progress in sino—american trade talks was hit by a spat over coal imports between australia and china. as stephen was talking about there. earlier, the s&p 500 closed slightly higher after the federal reserve was seen remaining patient in its appro

mining shares have been hit hard in the last few hours on reports that the northern chinese port of daliantry. china is australia's biggest trading partner and the biggest buyer of its coal. relations have been strained in recent years though by a series of diplomatic rows. but australia's prime minister scott morrison has rushed to play down the significance of the move, which china is routine. people should be careful about living to conclusions about this. this is not the first time that on occasion local ports make decisions about these matters and so there is nothing, no evidence before me that would suggest that it has connotations that it has anything to do with anything more broadly than that. this happens from time to time and wejust that. this happens from time to time and we just work constructively with oui’ and we just work constructively with our partners in china about those issues. let's get more on this story with sharanjit leyl in singapore. its australian coal this time round which seems to be sort of paying the price of this escalating battle between and china. well, it