Asia narrowly mixed as markets shrug off sharper US declines amid trade tensions

FAN Editor

Stocks in Asia were mostly flat in early Monday trade, shrugging off steeper declines on Wall Street in the last session after a week largely dominated by U.S.-China trade developments.

The Nikkei 225 was mostly directionless, with the benchmark last lower by 0.03 percent. The broader Topix slipped 0.07 percent as the oil and coal subindex led declines in the early going.

South Korea’s Kospi reflected a similar picture, last trading higher by 0.04 percent.

Gains in the technology sector, with Samsung Electronics climbing 0.79 percent, were offset by losses seen in other sectors, including steelmakers. Posco sank 1.88 percent.

Meanwhile, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.17 percent. The heavily weighted financials sector edged lower by 0.23 percent and materials stocks shed 0.24 percent.

The narrowly mixed Asia morning trade came after U.S. stocks fell on Friday amid trade concerns. The Dow Jones industrial average closed in correction territory, falling 2.34 percent, or 572.46 points, to close at 23,932.76.

Markets have focused on the escalation in trade-related rhetoric between the U.S. and China in recent weeks. U.S. stocks came under pressure after President Donald Trump on Thursday said he had instructed U.S. trade officials to consider $100 billion in additional tariffs on Chinese goods.

In response, China’s Ministry of Commerce said on Friday that it would “immediately fight back with a major response” if the U.S. went ahead with its plan to impose tariffs on $100 billion in Chinese imports.

Trump said in a tweet on Sunday that China would remove its trade barriers as that would be the “right thing to do.”

Besides trade concerns, markets also digested the release of March nonfarm payrolls on Friday. Nonfarm payrolls rose 103,000 last month, missing an expected gain of 193,000.

Also of note, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said Friday that gradual interest rate increases were needed, although he did not say exactly how many rate hikes were necessary.

Against the yen, the dollar was mostly steady at 106.97 at 8:14 a.m. HK/SIN. The dollar index, which tracks the dollar against a basket of currencies, stood at 90.187.

On the commodities front, U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures edged up 0.21 percent to trade at $62.19 per barrel. Brent crude futures advanced by 0.21 percent to trade at $67.25.

Here’s the economic calendar for Monday (all times in HK/SIN):

  • 1:00 p.m.: Japan consumer confidence
  • 4:00 p.m.: Taiwan balance of trade
  • 4:30 p.m.: Hong Kong foreign exchange reserves

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