Asian stocks tumbled on Friday on the worry that the US and China will not reach a trade deal before another round of tariff hikes are set to kick in.
Japanese shares led declines and Hong Kong stocks slumped as trading resumed after a three-day holiday.
Taiwanese and Chinese equity markets remained shut for the Lunar New Year holiday.
Shares sank following news that US President Donald Trump is unlikely to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) before the March 1 deadline for more tariffs.
With Hong Kong traders back at their desks on Friday and Chinese traders set to return tomorrow, volumes were ramping up again just as global growth concerns are rising.
The European Commission on Thursday made sweeping downward revisions to most of the region’s major economies and the Bank of England said it expected the British economy to grow at its slowest pace in a decade.
India’s central bank on Thursday cut interest rates.
The Reserve Bank of Australia on Friday lowered its growth and inflation forecasts, following the central bank governor’s declaration of a shift to a neutral policy stance earlier in the week.
“Many of the central banks are reacting to the fact that the global economic situation has worsened,” Komal Sri-Kumar, founder and president at Sri-Kumar Global Strategies Inc, told Bloomberg TV from Los Angeles.
The MSCI Asia-Pacific Index fell 1 percent, the most since Jan. 4, to 154.88, down 0.9 percent for the week.
Japan’s TOPIX lost 1.9 percent and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index fell 0.3 percent.
Hong Kong stocks ended weaker as the absence of any positive signs for a resolution in the trade row dented sentiment, but the market pared losses as investors eyed support from A-shares, which are to resume trading tomorrow.
At the close of trade, the Hang Seng index was down 0.2 percent at 27,946.32 points, while the Hang Seng China Enterprises index fell 0.7 percent.
Energy shares shed 1.4 percent as oil markets slipped on concerns over a global economic slowdown.
However, the IT sector ended 0.2 percent firmer, the financial sector closed up 0.1 percent and the property sector ended 0.3 percent higher.
Hong Kong shares rebounded mid-session, having lost more than 1 percent in early trade, because “the market believes A-shares will open higher on Monday” as investors expect Beijing to continue its support for economic growth, said Steven Leung (梁偉源), a Hong Kong-based director of sales at UOB Kay Hian Holdings Ltd (大華繼顯控股).
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last