Asian Stock Markets Plunge Amid US-China Trade Tensions

Asian Stock Markets prices are falling again, in some cases significantly

Donald Trump has temporarily suspended certain special tariffs for many countries, but he has tightened his stance against China. This is worrying Finance Minister Kukies. The Japanese stock market is already experiencing turmoil again also Asian Stock Markets prices are falling again.

The financial markets in Asia are once again being rocked by the US trade war. Some stocks fell significantly on Friday amid growing uncertainty. Specifically, the Nikkei index in Japan, which comprises 225 stocks , initially fell by 4.2 percent on Friday. The broader Topix index closed 4.2 percent lower. The Shanghai Stock Exchange lost 0.2 percent. The index of major companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen fell 0.5 percent.

Asian stock markets thus followed a global stock market collapse. The ups and downs caused by US tariffs and fears of a recession triggered a rush among investors to safe havens: The Swiss franc rose to a decade-high against the dollar. The price of gold reached a new high.

Analysts around the world see this week’s sharp sell-off in U.S. Treasury bonds and the weak dollar as signs that confidence in the world’s largest economy has been shaken. “There’s clearly an exodus from U.S. assets,” said Kyle Rodda, senior financial markets analyst at Capital.com.

Finance Minister Kukies warns of new escalation

Investor concerns about the escalating US trade war are likely to have intensified again after US President Donald Trump increased tariffs on Chinese imports to 145 percent. China has retaliated, increasing its tariffs against the US with each increase imposed by Trump.

This raises fears that Beijing could raise tariffs beyond the current 84 percent. Chinese stocks started subdued on Friday. The blue-chip CSI300 index lost 0.5 percent, while Hong Kong’s benchmark Hang Seng index fell 0.38 percent.

Europe and many other parts of global trade, however, can look forward to a respite expected to last 90 days. Following major turmoil on the stock and financial markets, Trump unexpectedly decided to suspend the planned punitive tariffs for this period. In return, the EU temporarily suspended some special tariffs against the US.

Federal Finance Minister Jörg Kukies nevertheless warned against a further escalation of the trade war sparked by the US. Regarding the announced tariff pause, he told the Handelsblatt newspaper: “This may increase uncertainty even further. It’s entirely conceivable that the whole thing will escalate again after 90 days.” He added that it was right that the EU Commission had now suspended its countermeasures. However, if new tariffs were imposed, “the EU would respond with a comprehensive package.”

Uniqlo company particularly in the red

According to Kukies, an escalation of the trade conflict between China and the US would have serious consequences for global trade as a whole. “It’s actually not entirely clear to me how this will work in practice: extremely high tariffs for one country, low ones for all the others. There will be evasive reactions,” said the finance minister. Then things would be assembled in another country to circumvent the tariff, but the components would still come from China  .

In Japan, the owner of the Uniqlo brand, Fast Retailing, suffered a particularly bad performance. It lost 3.29 percent, dragging down the Nikkei the most. Chip stocks Tokyo Electron and Advantest fell by 2.8 percent and 8 percent, respectively.

On Wall Street in New York, all three major US stock indices suffered heavy losses overnight, erasing much of the previous trading session’s gains. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed Thursday down 2.5 percent. The broad-based S&P 500 lost 3.5 percent, and the technology-heavy Nasdaq lost 4.3 percent.

Nikkei, Yen, Hang Seng: Asian markets record price losses again

The recovery was short-lived: Stock markets in Asia also slid again on Friday. The focus shifted to investors’ loss of confidence in the foreign exchange market.

Tokyo, Beijing. After a brief rally yesterday, Thursday, Asian stock markets fell again across the board at the start of trading on Friday. The sharpest decline was recorded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, which, with its high liquidity, is the leading stock exchange in Asia.

The Nikkei 225 index fell 4.1 percent to 33,170 points, while the broader-weighted Topix fell 3.7 percent to 2,445 points.

The business newspaper Nikkei sees the downward trend as a double whammy of uncertainty about the consequences of US tariff policy and the rapid rise of the yen. Its price increase of two percent could exert additional pressure on Japanese stock prices in the medium term . With last week’s stock market crash, “the yen, which is considered a low-risk currency, was bought in tandem.”

The stronger the yen becomes, the more the foreign profits of major export companies decline due to the changed exchange rates. The investment fund Blackrock This week, the company lowered its recommendation for Japanese stocks from “overweight” to “neutral.”

Other Asian markets are also giving back some of their gains on Thursday. South Korea’s Kospi index fell 0.8 percent to 2,424 points, and Singapore’s FTSE Straits Times index fell 2.1 percent to 3,502 points.

Asian markets on the decline again – SMI and DAX up before trading

The stock market recovery was short-lived. Markets in Asia are also slipping again. The focus is shifting to the loss of confidence in the dollar.

After a brief rally on Thursday, Asian stock markets have declined again across the board. The sharpest decline was recorded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, which, with its high liquidity, is the leading stock exchange in Asia. The Nikkei 225 index fell 4.2 percent to 33,148 points by midday, while the broader-weighted Topix index fell 4.3 percent to 2,431 points.

Asia/Pacific equities: Japanese stock market with strong recovery – China cautious

TOKYO/HONG KONG/SHANGHAI/SYDNEY (dpa-AFX) – Asian stock markets recovered on Tuesday after the price slump at the beginning of the week. However, the recovery was uneven. Significant gains in Japan were offset by subdued performance in China.

The stock markets’ performance reflected the signals in the trade dispute with the US. Deutsche Bank’s market strategists attributed the gains in Tokyo to statements by the US Treasury Secretary that Japan would be a priority in tariff negotiations. The Nikkei index, which comprises 225 stocks, gained six percent to 33,012.58 points, after losing nearly eight percent the previous day. The Australian benchmark index, the S&P/ASX 200, also rose by 2.27 percent to 7,510 points.

The situation was different in China. After the stock market slump at the beginning of the week, the recovery remained hesitant. Despite sharp threats from the White House, China intends to maintain its retaliatory tariffs. Should the US further escalate its tariff measures, “China will resolutely take countermeasures to protect its own rights and interests,” the Chinese Ministry of Commerce stated.

White House Meeting: Trump gave the Chinese leadership one more chance

At a meeting at the White House, Trump gave the Chinese leadership until noon to withdraw the 34 percent retaliatory tariffs announced by Beijing. But the response from Beijing was immediate: If the US persisted on this path, “China will definitely accompany them to the end,” the Beijing Ministry of Commerce announced. The CSI 300 index, which includes the most important Chinese mainland stocks, gained only 0.8 percent. The Hang Seng Index for the Chinese Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong was little changed in late trading.

US President Donald Trump imposed an additional 34 percent tariff on China last week as part of his announcement of global tariffs, prompting Beijing to respond by announcing a counter-tariff of the same amount. On Monday, Trump threatened China with a further 50 percent tariff if Beijing did not withdraw its counter-tariffs.

Samsung’s figures also made a statement in South Korea. The South Korean mobile phone manufacturer and electronics group Samsung positively surprised with a stable operating profit in the first quarter. According to initial key figures, the company expects operating profit for the months January to March to be around 6.6 trillion won (around 4.1 billion euros), roughly on par with the previous year. Experts surveyed by Bloomberg had expected a decline to around 5.7 trillion won. Sales increased ten percent to 79 trillion won. The South Korean stock market, as well as Samsung’s share price, rose slightly./mf/mis

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Sources used:

• With material from the News agencies Reuters news agency, Apr, and dpa. With information from news.google.com. Statement and reports from reputable news sources, including  Wikipedia, BBC, CNN. The content has been independently analyzed and rewritten to provide original insights.

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