Fresh fears over headwinds facing the global economy on Friday saw Asian stocks plunge into the red in light holiday trading after US markets were closed for Thanksgiving.
Chinese shares led the downward charge as Shanghai slumped by more than 2 percent, with the tech sector hit hard by a Wall Street Journal report saying that Washington is urging its allies to avoid using equipment from Chinese telecom giant Huawei Technologies Co (華為).
Worsening tensions between the US and China have shattered confidence on global trading floors and investors were skeptical of new claims by US President Donald Trump that he was hopeful of resolving the bitter trade dispute between the two countries.
“China wants to make a deal. If we can make a deal, we will,” Trump said, ahead of crunch talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) at the G20 in Argentina next week.
Beijing on Friday also signaled its willingness to make progress, with Chinese Vice Minister of Commerce Wang Shouwen (王受文) telling a media briefing that he hoped the two economic heavyweights could “finally find a solution to solve the problem.”
However, the fractious APEC summit — which for the first time ever failed to issue a joint statement after US-China trade tensions boiled over — earlier this month set an ominous tone for the high-stakes summit in Buenos Aires.
The world’s top two economies have been locked in a trade war since the summer, with the US imposing punitive tariffs on an annual US$250 billion of Chinese goods.
In retaliation, China has imposed tariffs on US$110 billion of US goods.
Washington has threatened to toughen measures even further if the issue is not resolved before January.
“Investors are waiting for either a conclusion to the trade war or for Xi to present some meaningful stimulus,” K2 Asset Management head of global equities James Soutter said in Melbourne. “Chinese companies are actually more sanguine than investors and in many cases still seeing growth, although not at the levels of last year.”
Speculation is growing that the People’s Bank of China will again cut the level of cash that banks must hold in reserve, a fresh bid to lower financing costs and blunt the economic effects of the trade dispute with the US.
“The central bank is worried about external shocks in the wake of the cantankerous APEC summit, which highlighted a considerable political divide,” Oanda Corp head of Asia-Pacific trade Stephen Innes said. “But moves are unlikely to be substantial given the local markets are effectively in holiday mode.”
The Shanghai Composite on Friday lost 65.95 points, or 2.5 percent, to close at 2,579.48, plunging 3.7 percent from 2,679.11 on Nov. 16.
With markets in Japan and India closed for holidays, Taipei, Hong Kong and Seoul all chalked up losses, as Asian stocks headed for a third week in the red.
The TAIEX on Friday edged down 47.41 points, or 0.5 percent, to 9,667.30, shedding 1.3 percent from a close of 9,797.09 a week earlier.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng on Friday slid 91.73 points, or 0.4 percent, to 25,927.68, dropping 1.7 percent from 26,372.00 on Nov. 16.
South Korea’s KOSPI on Friday fell 12.47 points, or 0.6 percent, to 2,057.48, a 2 percent fall from 2,100.56 a week earlier.
Sydney, which saw gains of 0.4 percent, was a rare bright spot.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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