* China announces new round of trade talks with U.S.
* MSCI Asia ex-Japan hits lowest since Aug 2017 in early trade
* Tencent's earnings shock weighs on investor sentiment
By Tomo Uetake
TOKYO, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Asian shares pulled away from one-year lows on Thursday, after Beijing said it will hold trade talks with Washington this month, although Turkey's currency crisis and fears of an economic slowdown in China kept most markets in the red.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS stood down 0.3 percent, after shedding as much as 1.1 percent to hit its lowest since Aug. 11, 2017.
China on Thursday said a delegation led by its vice commerce minister would travel to the United States for talks in late August at the invitation of Washington. helped Chinese stocks pare losses, with the Shanghai Composite Index .SSEC and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index .HSI both down 0.4 percent, having earlier fallen as much as 1.9 percent and 1.7 percent, respectively.
Japan's Nikkei .N225 swung into positive territory, up 0.2 percent on the day, but was down as much as 1.5 percent in morning trade.
The euro EUR= rose 0.3 percent and the offshore Chinese yuan CNY=D4 gained 0.4 percent following the news on China. U.S. stock futures ESc1 rose 0.3 percent.
The announcement by the Chinese commerce ministry of the planned meeting in late August comes after a lull in talks between the two sides. The last official round of talks was in early June when U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross met Chinese Vice Premier Liu He in Beijing. the modest reprieve, markets remain vulnerable as signs of a slowdown in the Chinese economy and Turkey's volatile currency keep investors on guard.
Wall Street's major indexes closed lower on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 .SPX down 0.8 percent, its biggest percentage drop since late June, amid disappointing earnings and escalating global trade worries. news comes from Turkey and China every day is upsetting global markets," said Norihiro Fujito, senior market strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Securities.
"Also, Tencent's earnings shock hurt tech stocks, sending the tech-heavy Nasdaq lower. It reminded investors that the U.S.-China trade spat is starting to harm the health of even the tech firms, which had been a major driver of the U.S. share rally."
Chinese tech firm Tencent Holdings Ltd 0700.HK reported its first quarterly profit fall in nearly 13 years on weak gaming revenue. That knocked other Asian tech firms with South Korea's Samsung Electronics 005930.KS down to a one-year low. prices took an additional hit after data showed a surprise weekly increase in U.S. crude stockpiles, compounding worries about a weaker global economic growth outlook before bouncing back on the trade talk news. crude oil CLc1 last stood at $65.06 per barrel, after having fallen to two-month lows of $64.42 per barrel, following Wednesday's 3.2 percent fall. (Editing by Sam Holmes)