Asia shares set to fall as Sino-U.S. strains hit confidence
By Chris Prentice WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Asian shares were set for another retreat on Friday as U.S.-China tensions curbed investor risk appetite and caused global equity markets to stumble.
By Chris Prentice
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Asian shares were set for another retreat on Friday as U.S.-China tensions curbed investor risk appetite and caused global equity markets to stumble.
Hong Kong futures
Australian S&P/ASX 200 futures
Global equities pulled back after Beijing was set to impose new national security legislation on Hong Kong. The move drew a warning from President Donald Trump, who said the United States would react "very strongly" against it.
The back-and-forth between the world's two largest economies stoked worries that the tensions could threaten "Phase 1" of a U.S.-China trade deal reached early this year.
That prompted Wall Street shares to slip from the two-month highs made in the previous session on hopes of a economic recovery as governments began to lift their coronavirus
restrictions.
The majority of the 11 S&P sector indexes declined, leaving the main benchmark S&P 500 <.SPX> down 0.78%. Dow Jones Industrial Average <.DJI> finished down 0.41% and the Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> fell 0.97%.
The U.S. dollar, seen as a safe-haven, rose amid those concerns. The dollar index <=USD>, which measures the greenback’s strength against six major currencies, was up 0.1%.
Spot gold
Brazil's real
Crude oil futures
"Thus far, traders were right to call a trough in global demand in April," AxiCorp Chief Global Markets Strategist Stephen Innes said in a daily note. "Still, oil prices will remain sensitive to any hint that the easing of global lockdowns might result in the 2nd wave of COVID-19 infections and, therefore, a more protracted impact on demand."
(Reporting by Chris Prentice in Washington; Editing by Sam Holmes)
This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
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