Yahoo Finance Asian Markets Fall; White House to Officially Delay China Tariff Hike, Reports Say
Investing.com - Asian stocks fell in morning trade on Friday, despite reports that White House is making official its decision to delay a tariff hike on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods until Mar. 1.
Citing two people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg said a notice in the Federal Register is expected to be published later in the day.
The tariff increase was initially planned for Jan. 1.
The report came after China promised to remove retaliatory tariffs on U.S. automobiles and postpone some targets of its ambitious plans to dominate high-end technologies, the “Made in China 2025” plan, by 10 years.
“They’ve started to make some very early stage, very preliminary, but very welcome moves,” Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told Bloomberg in an interview on Thursday.
However, the reports failed to lift sentiment, as the Shanghai Composite and the SZSE Component fell 0.6% and 0.8% respectively by 9:10 PM ET (02:10 GMT). Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index declined 1.5%.
Meanwhile, Japan’s Nikkei 225 slumped 1.8% even after a preliminary survey compiled by IHS Markit showed the country’s manufacturing activity expanded in December.
The Flash Markit/Nikkei Japan Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) came in at 52.4 in December, compared with 52.2 in November, the survey showed on Friday.
Separately, the Bank of Japan released the Tankan survey on Friday that showed large Japanese manufacturers’ sentiment stood at plus 19 in December, unchanged from three months ago and beating a median market forecast of plus 17.
The index for non-manufacturers rose to plus 24, exceeding the general consensus of plus 21.
The Tankan survey “is a better indication of the underlying strength of the Japanese economy than the prior GDP figures,” said Robert Carnell, ING’s chief economist and head of research in the Asia Pacific.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) screen supplier Japan Display Inc (T:6740) jumped as much as 40% in morning trade on reports that the company is in discussion with Chinese businesses and investment funds to get support for its turnaround efforts.
Elsewhere, South Korea’s KOSPI traded 1.3% lower, while Australia’s ASX 200 was also down 0.9%.
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