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ASX finishes lower as China-US trade war worries grow

A young boy having fun sliding down a slide on a sunny day at a playground in Bushy Park London.
Australian markets have slid lower on Friday. Image: Getty

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 (^AXJO) has closed in the red on Friday, sliding 1.63 per cent over the day to 5,755.70 points.

The broader All Ordinaries index (^AORD) finished down 1.44 per cent to 5,872.20 points.

The sell-off came as anxiety over China-US trade tensions proved pervasive for the entire session.

Despite ending in the red, the ASX marked its best week in eight weeks as overall positive sentiment about lockdown restrictions easing has buoyed markets higher.

What happened at midday?

The ASX200 worsened its decline in midday trade, down 1.29 per cent to 5,775.40 points at 12:23pm AEST.

The All Ordinaries tracked a similar path, down 1.20 per cent to 5,886.30 points.

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The dip comes financial stocks pulled the market lower, with only the communications and information technologies subsectors in the green.

What happened this morning?

The ASX200 opened 0.74 per cent lower to 5,807.70 points at 10:14am AEST, as US-China tensions grow.

The All Ordinaries also fell 0.73 per cent to 5,914.60 points after a rough session on Wall Street overnight.

What happened overnight?

US shares slid lower after President Donald Trump announced a news conference about China, raising concerns about worsening relations between the two nations.

Stocks had traded higher for most of the session on investors’ hopes of lockdown rules being eased. But the President’s announcement sent them into the red.

"We are concerned (it's) sabre rattling with China... It was just a big sell-off because of that," Tim Ghriskey, chief investment strategist at Inverness Counsel in New York told AAP.

The S&P 500 ended the day down 6.40, or 0.2 per cent, at 3,029.73. The Dow Jones Industrial Average swung from a gain of 210 points to a loss of 147.63 by the close of trading, down 0.6 per cent to 25,400.64. The Nasdaq composite fell 43.37, or 0.5 per cent, to 9,368.99.

Facebook and Twitter also weighed heavily on the indexes after Trump said he would sign an executive order which would crack down on deceptive business practices.

With AAP.

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