US President and Chinese offcials sound positive note ahead of G-20

In remarks made overnight, Donald Trump reportedly said that "[China] wants to make a deal and we're very happy with that. I'm very prepared, I've been preparing for it all my life."

Meanwhile, in China, the country's vice minister of Foreign Affairs, Wang Chao, said he hoped a meeting between Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, would go "smoothly".

He was echoed by the vice minister of Commerce, Wang Shouwen, who said that negotiating teams from Washington and Beijing had been "in close touch".

Wang also toed a similar line to the US president, saying: "We noticed that the U.S. wants to reach an agreement to solve trade frictions with China. China hopes to work with the U.S. to contain disputes."

In other remarks, Chinese officials reiterated that the Asian giant wanted to support the multilateral system of trade and that any reforms of the World Trade Organisation should be addressed within the global trade body.

Some market watchers also called attention to trips scheduled for next week by Xi to Spain, Portugal and Panama.

Regarding the former, and as part of China's Belt and Road initiative, Chinese companies had already secured stakes in the ports of Valencia, Barcelona and Bilbao.