Shares were moderately lower in Asia on Wednesday following a bloodletting on Wall Street as goodwill generated by a truce between the U.S. and China over trade evaporated in confusion over what the two sides had agreed upon.
On Tuesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA, -3.10%
fell nearly 800 points. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell to its lowest level in three months, signaling that the bond market is worried about long-term economic growth. The sell-off short-circuited a recent rally on Wall Street. The market gained Monday after the Trump administration said U.S. and China agreed to a temporary cease-fire in a trade dispute. Last week, stocks jumped when the Federal Reserve’s chairman indicated the central bank could slow the pace of interest rate increases.
In Asia, the losses in early Wednesday trading were not as bad, with no benchmarks falling by more than 1.5%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index
HSI, -1.54%
fared the worst, down 1.4% by mid-morning. Tech stocks reversed sharply, with Tencent
0700, -2.38%
shedding 2% and smartphone-component firms AAC
2018, -3.35%
and Sunny Optical
2382, -6.70%
tumbling as well. Banks also fell, with HSBC
0005, -2.06%
down 2% and China Construction Bank
0939, -1.62%
off 1.5%. In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite
SHCOMP, -0.21%
and the smaller-cap Shenzhen Composite
399106, +0.02%
were down around 0.5%.
Japan’s Nikkei
NIK, -0.79%
last traded down 0.4%, up from session lows. Financial stocks fared poorly, with insurer Dai-Ichi Life
8750, -3.08%
falling 3% and Nomura
8604, -3.08%
off about the same. Robotics maker Fanuc
6954, -3.17%
dropped 2.7%.
South Korea’s Kospi
SEU, -0.54%
slipped 0.4%, with Samsung
005930, -1.54%
down 1.3%. Benchmarks in Taiwan
Y9999, -1.60%
and Singapore
STI, -1.07%
fell around 1% or more.
Australia’s S&P ASX 200
XJO, -1.04%
dropped 1.3% after third-quarter GDP data came in below expectations. Banking stocks again took a hit, with Westpac
WBC, -1.62%
, Commonwealth Bank
CBA, -1.66%
and ANZ Banking Group
ANZ, -1.14%
all down nearly 2%. New Zealand’s benchmark
NZ50GR, -1.24%
fell about 1.2%.
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Source : MTV
