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.
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