Asian stocks mixed as US-China trade in focus, Chinese equities in retreat
- Broader Asia-session stocks are largely flat for the day, but Chinese equities are taking a beating.
- Trade concerns continue to edge higher in the run-up to further tariff action between the US and China.
Asian equities are falling back on headlines that the US' White House administration is seeking to bump planned tariffs on China to a higher rate, sending broader markets back on concerns over trade wars.
US President Donald Trump and his treasury department are seeking to lift tariffs targeting $200 billion in Chinese goods from 10% to 25%, a move that would significantly ramp-up trade war fallout in both the US and Chinese economies.
Japan's leading Nikkei 225 index is flat for the day, sitting at -0.03% while the Tokyo Topix index is similarly steady at 0.16% for Thursday, while Australia's ASX 200 sits at -0.07% and MSCI's broad Asia-Pacific index excluding Japan is in the green by 0.23%. Chinese stock indexes are falling once again on trade headlines, with Hong Kong's Hang Seng index down -0.85% for today and Shanghai's CSI 300 in the red by a full 2%.
Shanghai Composite levels to watch
Shanghai's Composite 300 index is approaching the 2,800.00 level in free-fall as trade headlines rip the bourse off of a recent swing high into 2,920.00. Trade angst amongst Asian session traders continue to punish the major mainland China index, which fell into a 2018 low of 2,690.00 in early July. A bullish recovery has been slow to develop, and bullish traders will be hoping for the current slide lower to find a floor above the last swing low at 2,750.00.
Author
Joshua Gibson
FXStreet
Joshua joins the FXStreet team as an Economics and Finance double major from Vancouver Island University with twelve years' experience as an independent trader focusing on technical analysis.
