Most of the Asian equity indices are trading down in the early deals on Wednesday as simmering fears of a Sino-US trade war overshadowed a bounce on Wall Street and left investors reluctant to take positions in anything. Though, China stocks shook off the Trump administration’s tariff announcement against Chinese exports, as investors judged the widely-expected move would have negligible impact on growth, and that a full-blown trade war will be averted through negotiations. Among the other Asian markets, Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore are in negative territory. Bucking the trend, Nikkei and Indonesia are higher.
Hang Seng dropped 22.7 points or 0.08% to 30,157.40, KOSPI Index dipped 30.57 points or 1.25% to 2,411.86, Taiwan Weighted slipped 66.74 points or 0.61% to 10,821.53, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI declined 3.3 points or 0.18% to 1,847.48, and Straits Times down by 18.10 points or 0.53% to 3,394.05.
On the flip side, Nikkei 225 added 37.86 points or 0.18% to 21,330.15, Jakarta Composite gained 5.68 points or 0.09% to 6,234.70, and Shanghai Composite up by 25.07 points or 0.8% to 3,161.70.
