Asia Markets: Asian markets fall after Wall Street tumbles on trade-war fears

Asian markets retreat Wednesday, following sharp losses on Wall Street as investors worried the trade war between the U.S. and China would escalate. Read More...

Asian markets retreated Wednesday, following sharp losses on Wall Street as investors worry the trade war between the U.S. and China could escalate.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -1.79% suffered its worst percentage decline since Jan. 2 a day after the Trump administration confirmed it would raise tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods to 25% from 10% on Friday. Still, China’s Vice Premier Liu He will lead a delegation for ongoing trade talks in Washington on Thursday and Friday, and there remains a possibility that a deal could yet be worked out.

“Over the past 24 hours, there has been a significant sentiment shift as some investors hedge into safe-haven assets while some are falling by the wayside while the balance is opting for the sidelines,” Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management, wrote in a note Tuesday. “But one thing that is for sure, Equity investors are getting more uncomfortable by the hour.”

Markets across Asia largely recovered Tuesday, following a sharp selloff Monday, but slid back again Wednesday. Japan’s Nikkei NIK, -1.46% fell 1.5%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index HSI, -1.20% dropped 1.1%.

Losses picked up for the Shanghai Composite SHCOMP, -1.04% which fell 1%, while the smaller-cap Shenzhen Composite 399106, -0.54% slipped 0.4%. South Korea’s Kospi SEU, -0.41% also fell 0.4%, while benchmark indexes in Taiwan Y9999, -0.58% , Singapore STI, -1.04% and Indonesia JAKIDX, +0.65% declined. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 XJO, -0.42% slipped 0.4%.

New Zealand’s NZ50GR, +0.36% main stock index bucked the weaker trend, rising 0.4% after the country’s central bank the official cash rate by 25 percentage points to 1.5%, the lowest on record. It was the first rate cut by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand since 2016, and weighed on the country’s currency NZDUSD, -0.1212% .

Among individual stocks, Toyota 7203, -0.95% fell in Tokyo trading, as did SoftBank 9984, +0.04% and Fanuc 6954, -2.24% . In Hong Kong, Tencent 0700, +1.37% rose but Sunny Optical 2382, -3.05% , CNOOC 0883, -1.58% and Wharf Real Estate 1997, -2.08% fell. Hyundai Heavy Industries 009540, -1.23% declined in South Korea, and Foxconn 2354, -2.45% slipped in Taiwan. Beach Energy BPT, -1.49% slid in Australia.