WITH the Dec 15 deadline for the United States to slap additional tariffs on US$160 billion of Chinese imports looming, investors no doubt are keeping their eyes peeled on developments from the US-China trade front.

This has been the case for much of the past month and a half, where sentiment in the markets has risen and fallen with headlines of the progress, or lack of it, of a "phase one" trade deal between the two giant economies.

While there is still no confirmation on when the interim agreement will be signed or concrete details of what will be covered, US President Donald Trump and US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin have acknowledged that progress has been encouraging.