Thursday, 9 August 2018
- Asia markets were mixed in early trade on Thursday amid rising trade tensions between the U.S. and China.
- China said on Wednesday that it will impose a 25 percent charge on $16 billion worth of American goods.
- That announcement followed after the U.S. Trade Representative’s office released a finalized list of $16 billion worth in Chinese goods that will be hit with tariffs, taking effect on Aug. 23.
Asia traded mixed on Thursday morning after the U.S. market was mostly little changed overnight following the unveiling of new Chinese tariffs on American goods.
In Australia, the ASX 200 was up 0.15 percent in early trade. But the energy subindex was down 0.83 percent following overnight drop in oil prices. Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropped 0.54 percent and the Topix index was down 0.55 percent. South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.14 percent.
Beijing said on Wednesday that it will retaliate against the latest round of U.S.tariffs on Chinese imports. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce announced a 25 percent tariff on $16 billion worth of American goods. The 333 goods being targeted by China include vehicles such as large passenger cars and motorcycles.
The announcement came after the U.S. Trade Representative’s office released a finalized list of $16 billion worth of Chinese goods that will be hit with tariffs, taking effect on Aug. 23. The latest U.S. list brings the total amount of Chinese goods facing a 25 percent tariff to $50 billion.
Global benchmark Brent declined 3.17 percent on Wednesday to $72.28 a barrel while U.S. crude fell 3.22 percent to $66.94. The move lower in oil prices appears to have been driven after China announced that it will levy 25 percent tariffs on U.S. gasoline, diesel and other goods in response to the $16 (billion) tariffs announced by the U.S. yesterday,
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, traded at 95.086. The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) set the Yuan reference rate at 6.8317 vs the previous day’s fix of 6.8313.
Source : Reuters
