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Asia stocks slip, European markets subdued

July 18, 2019 00:00:00


Stocks in Asia mostly slipped on Wednesday following overnight developments on the US-China trade front, reports CNBC.

In mainland China, the Shanghai composite closed 0.2 per cent lower at 2,931.69, while the Shenzhen component added 0.2 per cent to finish its trading day at 9,302.00.

The Shenzhen composite also rose 0.162 per cent to close at 1,574.35. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index slipped 0.18 per cent, as of its final hour of trading.

Shares of Chinese live-streaming platform DouYu International Holdings were priced at the low end ahead of their public debut on the Nasdaq stateside later on Wednesday. The firm is backed by Chinese tech behemoth Tencent, which saw its own Hong Kong-listed stock rise more than 0.1 per cent.

The Nikkei 225 in Japan fell 0.31 per cent to close at 21,469.18, with shares of index heavyweight and conglomerate Softbank Group dropping 2.35 per cent, while the Topix ended its trading day slightly lower at 1,567.41.

Over in South Korea, the Kospi declined 0.91 per cent to close at 2,072.92, as chipmaker SK Hynix saw its stock fall 1.97 per cent, while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.49 per cent to finish its trading day at 6,673.30.

Overall, the MSCI Asia-ex Japan index slipped 0.26 per cent.

Meanwhile, European stocks turned negative on Wednesday afternoon as trade concerns continued to weigh on global markets while earnings season gathered pace.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 traded 0.1 per cent lower during the early afternoon, oil and gas stocks slipping 1.3 per cent while food and beverage stocks led gains with a 0.7 per cent rise.

Market focus early Wednesday was largely attuned to the U.S.-China trade spat. President Donald Trump on Tuesday said that the U.S. and China still have a "long way to go" on trade, adding that Washington could slap tariffs on an additional $325 billion in Chinese goods "if we want."

Trump's comments came after both countries agreed not to ratchet up trade tensions in an effort to restart talks. Washington and Beijing have slapped tariffs on billions of dollars' worth of each other's imports since last year.


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