Asian markets ended mostly lower on Thursday after Washington opened a new front in its trade wars by imposing swingeing tariffs on European goods, adding to uncertainty surrounding the US-China trade war. The US proposed to impose tariffs on $7.5 billion of goods from the European Union as part of a long-running complaint over subsidies given to the European plane maker Airbus. The Office of the US Trade Representative said that the tariffs will take effect on October 18. Weak US data also rekindled investor concerns about slowing global growth. Japanese shares ended lower as weak US data offered fresh evidence of the damaging effects of the US-China trade war. Investors also reacted to the latest survey from Jibun Bank revealing that the services sector in Japan continued to expand in September, albeit at a slower rate. Though, Hong Kong shares ended up as media reports suggested that Hong Kong will use an emergency ordinance for the first time in more than a half a century in order to ban face masks at public gatherings. Meanwhile, markets in South Korea and China were closed for public holidays.
Asian Indices | Last Trade | Change in Points | Change in % |
Shanghai Composite | - | - | - |
Hang Seng | 26,110.31 | 67.62 | 0.26 |
Jakarta Composite | 6,038.53 | -16.90 | -0.28 |
KLSE Composite | 1,564.12 | -10.78 | -0.68 |
Nikkei 225 | 21,341.74 | -436.87 | -2.01 |
Straits Times | 3,087.97 | -15.48 | -0.50 |
KOSPI Composite | - | - | - |
Taiwan Weighted | 10,875.91 | -71.97 | -0.66 |
