Chinese stock markets fell in early trading Monday amid increasing trade tensions with the U.S., while markets in most of the rest of Asia gained.
On Friday, China’s Commerce Ministry called the Trump administration’s latest tariffs hikes “bullying behavior,” and Chinese state media suggested the government was in no hurry to resume trade talks with the U.S.
On Sunday, Alphabet Inc.’s GOOGL, -1.33% GOOG, -1.41% Google reportedly revoked Huawei Technologies’ Android license, effectively blocking the Chinese tech giant’s smartphones from receiving Android updates and barring its next versions of smartphones outside of China from using the popular YouTube and Gmail apps, and as well as cutting off access to the Google Play store.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index HSI, -0.43% fell 0.6%, and the Shanghai Composite SHCOMP, -0.59% slid 1%, while the smaller-cap Shenzhen Composite 399106, -0.89% tumbled 1.5%. Japan’s Nikkei NIK, +0.35% rose 0.2% after economists were surprised by stronger-than-expected first-quarter economic growth, and South Korea’s Kospi 180721, +0.58% gained 0.7%. Benchmark indexes rose in Taiwan Y9999, +0.09% but fell in Indonesia JAKIDX, +0.75% . Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 XJO, +1.59% advanced 1.4%.
Among individual stocks, Nintendo 7974, +1.22% rose while Sony 6758, -1.44% fell in Tokyo trading. CNOOC 883, +1.79% was among the gainers in Hong Kong, while Sunny Optical 2382, -4.27% and Tencent 700, -2.47% dropped. Samsung 005930, +1.94% and Hyundai Motor 005380, +2.79% advanced in South Korea, while Westpac Banking WBC, +8.34% surged in Australia.
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