Asian stocks dropped on Thursday as the latest escalation in the Sino-U. S. trade war hit Chinese shares, while global bond markets were rattled by increased borrowing by Washington and Japan’s new tolerance for higher yields.
TOKYO (Reuters) – Asian stocks dropped on Thursday as the latest escalation in the Sino-U. S. trade war hit Chinese shares, while global bond markets were rattled by increased borrowing by Washington and Japan’s new tolerance for higher yields.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan. MIAPJ0000PUS dropped 0.8 percent, dragged down by a 1.2 percent fall in Chinese H-shares. MICN00000PUS. Japan’s Nikkei. N225 declined 0.4 percent.
The CSI 300 index. CSI300 of China’s A-shares dropped 1.4 percent to three-week lows, extending falls from a July 24 high to 5.5 percent.
The U. S. administration on Wednesday increased pressure on China for trade concessions by proposing a higher 25 percent tariff on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports.
“If it had not been for the sideswipe on trade, markets would have been in much better shape this week. Apple’s earnings were super, helping to quell concerns about high-tech companies,” said Hirokazu Kabeya, chief global strategist at Daiwa Securities.
“The BOJ’s policy tweaks weren’t much of a tightening, and did little damage,” he added.
MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe. MIWD00000PUS is down 0.45 percent so far this week, reversing gains from the previous four weeks, with Chinese shares accounting for the bulk of that.
On Wall Street, the S&P 500.
