Asian Stock Market Mixed Amid Trump’s Tariffs Warning

HONG KONG, H.K. – The Asian stock market is mixed as US President, Donald Trump, warns imposing higher tariffs on Chinese goods.

The most downtrend in Asian stocks came after the statement from President Trump saying he would push the tariffs already enforced on Chinese goods even higher if both countries will fail to come to an agreement.

The US and China were already in agreement with phase one of the long-standing trade talks back in October. However, there have been some issues and disagreements between the two countries on how to proceed with the trade deal.

According to reports, the Chinese government has wanted the US to lower the tariffs that are already imposed by the US government on Chinese goods in exchange for more purchases of US goods. China has also promised to stop the forced technology transfers as part of the trade deal.

With the continuing confusion, as to when and if the two countries can come to a trade agreement, the market has been largely affected.

Asian stocks have had conflicting sentiments, and today’s session is not any different. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index has already declined to a massive 186 points while the Shanghai index dropped 8.15 points.

On the other hand, the US dollar index experienced very little change during the Asian trading session as market players reflected on the sales numbers from US retailers.

Against the USD, the Japanese yen (JPY) wobbled after the country reported its trade data for October. From the expected -7.6% on exports, the country’s trade numbers showed a lower -9.2% decline. It was also significantly lower than the -5.2% decline it experienced in September. The trade numbers are a bit optimistic, with the weakest exports and imports data for Japan was in 2016. On the other hand, the country came in with a $17.3 billion trade surplus as Japan’s economy is going through a tough patch with the ongoing trade war between Japan and South Korea.

The USD/JPY pair also had very little change after a weak trade number, staying around 108.50 points, but is signaling a strong downward trend. It is expected to continue its downtrend and test the 108.00 marks.

The XBR/USD pair, however, showed a significant dip as the markets shift its focus on the ongoing and a bit hopeless trade war between the US and China. The pair experienced a 59.93 points drop after the 62.97 points it has at the end of last week’s trading session. The XBR/USD is expected to continue with its downward trend.