Dipo Olowookere
By Investors Hub
Asian stocks fell on Wednesday after U.S. President Donald Trump dangled the prospect of completing an initial trade deal with China ?soon,? but at the same time threatened further increase in tariffs if a trade deal is not reached. Worries about growing unrest in Hong Kong also kept underlying sentiment cautious.
China’s Shanghai Composite Index dropped 9.58 points, or 0.3 percent, to 2,905.24 after Trump threatened to raise tariffs on China “substantially” if the two countries fail to strike a trade deal.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index plunged 493.82 points, or as 1.8 percent, to 26,571.46 after an escalation of violence. Hong Kong’s security chief John Lee cautioned that “unthinkable” consequences may come if the violence continued.
Japanese shares declined as the yen continued to appreciate against the dollar amid an escalating crisis in Hong Kong and the lack of material progress in U.S.-China trade talks. The Nikkei 225 Index shed 200.14 points, or 0.9 percent, to finish at 23,319.87, while the broader Topix closed 0.6 percent lower at 1,700.33, snapping a six-day winning streak.
Nissan Motor slid half a percent after the company reported a 70 percent drop in quarterly profit and cut its full-year outlook.
E-commerce settlement service firm GMO Payment Gateway slumped 9.3 percent after its quarterly earnings and profit guidance for the year to next September fell short of market expectations.
On the other hand, shares of Fujifilm soared 6.3 percent after the company forecast a record annual profit.
Australian markets retreated amid lingering uncertainty about whether, and when, the United States and China will agree to a long-awaited deal to end their bitter trade dispute.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index dropped 54.60 points, or 0.8 percent, to 6,698.40. while the broader All Ordinaries Index ended down 51.50 points, or 0.8 percent, at 6,805.60.
Miners BHP, Rio Tinto and Fortescue Metals Group declined 1-2 percent, while energy stocks such as Oil Search, Origin Energy and Woodside Petroleum lost around 1 percent.
Lender Westpac Banking Corp. declined 1.3 percent to extend losses. Commonwealth Bank of Australia shed 2 percent after announcing changes to its executive leadership team.
Meanwhile, Bingo Industries shares surged 10.7 percent after the waste manager projected its full-year underlying earnings to rise by as much as 55 percent.
Seoul stocks fell after Trump didn’t offer any concrete details on ongoing trade talks with China. The Kospi ended down 18.47 points, or 0.9 percent, at 2,122.45.
In economic news, South Korea’s jobless rate climbed to a seasonally adjusted 3.5 percent in October from 3.4 percent in September, figures from Statistics Korea showed.
