Asian markets were broadly lower on Monday morning as trade tensions between the U.S. and China remain in focus.
Both the Nikkei 225 and South Korea’s Kospi saw slight gains in morning trade.
Down Under, the ASX 200 recovered from its earlier losses but still traded slightly down as the heavily weighted financials sector declined by 0.39 percent.
The Greater China markets were in largely negative territory in the early hours of trade, as Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index declined about 1 percent. Over on the mainland, the Shanghai composite was lower by 0.76 percent while the Shenzhen composite fell by around 1 percent.
Wall Street ended the trading week in negative territory on Friday. The Nasdaq Composite slid by 0.3 percent to close at 7,902.54, declining for the fourth straight day and posting its worst start to September since 2008. The S&P 500 fell 0.2 percent to close at 2,871.68. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped by 79.33 points to 25,916.54.
The moves stateside came after U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday that the country was primed to impose tariffs on an additional $267 billion worth in Chinese goods. Trump’s comments came following the end of a deadline for public comment on U.S. tariffs for another $200 billion in Chinese goods.
While the U.S. tariffs on $200 billion Chinese goods have not been implemented, Trump said they could “take place very soon, depending on what happens with them.”
In a morning note, Mizuho Bank said Trump has “left no doubt” that the tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese imports into the U.S. are “imminent.”
“What’s striking is that escalating US trade aggression suggests that the appeals of US businesses, warning that tariffs will place burden of rising costs disproportionately on US businesses and consumers, have been in vain on Trump’s administration,” the note said.
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of currencies, was at 95.363 as of 9:38 a.m. HK/SIN, off its high from last Friday.
The Japanese yen strengthened against the greenback at 110.90, while the Australian dollar also saw a mild gain at $0.7111, as of 9:39 a.m. HK/SIN.
In the oil markets, prices saw increases in the morning of Asian trade. The global benchmark Brent crude futures were up by 0.47 percent at $77.19 a barrel. U.S. crude futures saw a slight decrease from their earlier highs but still gained by 0.44 percent at $68.05 a barrel.
— CNBC’s Fred Imbert contributed to this report.
