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Asia markets mixed as investors worry over US-China trade row

May 25, 2019 00:00:00


Asia Pacific markets traded mixed Friday, as worries over trade tensions between the United States and China weighed on investor sentiment, reports CNBC.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.67 per cent in the afternoon.

Mainland Chinese markets were mixed: The Shanghai composite closed flat while the Shenzhen composite fell 0.48 per cent.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index added about 0.4 per cent in late afternoon trade.

In Japan, the benchmark Nikkei 225 fell 0.16 per cent to 21,117.22 while the Topix index was fractionally higher at 1,541.21. South Korea's Kospi fell 0.69 per cent to 2,045.31.

Australia's ASX 200 declined 0.55 per cent to 6,456, with the financial subindex down 0.45 per cent.

"A negative shift (in) the US-China trade negotiations took its toll on the markets," analysts at ANZ Research said in an early morning note. "China is prepared to hunker down and support its private enterprises rather than yield to the financial pressures being applied by the US."

In India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party clinched a landslide re-election victory. On Thursday, as Modi's party led the vote count, investors had cheered - at one point, the Nifty 50 jumped above the 12,000 mark while the Sensex breached the 40,000 level. Both indexes ultimately gave up gains and closed lower.

On Friday, the Nifty 50 was up 0.77 per cent while the Sensex added 0.78 per cent.


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