China Drops on Trade Tensions as Asian Stocks Rise – Asia Market Wrap
As investors negotiate the trade conflict and Wall Street’s large tech companies’ reports, Asian stocks followed US shares higher. Upon reopening, Chinese shares dropped.
China’s stock market declined as it reopened Wednesday following the Lunar New Year holidays, while a measure of Asian shares increased for a second day in a row. After Alphabet and AMD fell during prolonged trading, contracts for US and European stocks fell. Due to haven demand, gold reached a record high and the Yen strengthened versus the Dollar.
Asian tech shares tracked their US peers higher just as investors turned cautious on China, which retaliated soon after the US imposed a 10% tariff on all imports from the Asian country. The first volleys in the latest US-China trade war made clear that Xi is taking a more cautious approach than during Trump’s first term.
Following solid domestic wage statistics and official remarks on inflation, the Yen strengthened on anticipation that the BoJ would keep raising interest rates.
Concerns that the trade war might hinder global growth overshadowed the announcement of tightened sanctions on Iran, which caused commodities like oil to slightly decline.
