<h1>Planned president meeting with Chinese leader eases trade uncertainty and lifts Asian markets amid sanctions, earnings, inflation</h1> A planned meeting between the U.S. president and the Chinese leader was confirmed, easing trade-related uncertainty and lifting Asian equity markets; major indexes in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Japan and South Korea gained while Australia and India were largely unchanged. Markets also reacted to U.S. announcements of new sanctions on Russian oil producers, which temporarily pushed crude prices higher and benefited energy stocks, though oil remains down year-to-date. Strong U.S. corporate earnings supported benchmark gains. Separately, Japan's core inflation ticked up and the central bank is expected to hold rates, and Australia's factory activity showed modest contraction.