Asian equity benchmarks are trading in red on Friday, following the overnight losses on Wall Street amid an escalation in the trade dispute between the US and China after President Donald Trump announced plans to impose a 10 percent tariff on the remaining $300 billion worth of Chinese imports. Reports that the Japanese government has approved removing South Korea from the so-called ‘white list’ of countries entitled to receive preferential treatment in trade also dampened investor sentiment. The Japanese market is sharply lower and the safe-haven yen strengthened following the weak cues from Wall Street on escalating US-China trade tensions. Among the other Asian markets, Shanghai, Singapore, Hong Kong, Indonesia, South Korea, Taiwan and Malaysia are trading in negative territory.
Nikkei 225 down 563.20 points or 2.61% to 20,977.79, Straits Times narrowed 24.18 points or 0.73% to 3,267.57, Hang Seng decreased 652.37 points or 2.37% to 26,913.33, Taiwan Weighted diminished 173.92 points or 1.62% to 10,557.81, KOSPI Index down 13.13 points or 0.65% to 2,004.21, Shanghai declined 48.96 points 1.68% to 2,859.81, Jakarta Composite contracted by 52.19 points or 0.82% to 6,329.35, and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI down by 10.84 points or 0.66% to 1,628.23.
