Asia markets started the week low as major indexed in South Korea, China, Hong-Kong and Singapore tumbled. The market in Japan is closed for a public holiday.
Chinese government showed the data exports and imports of December where fell unexpectedly, deepening concerns of a slowdown in the world’s second-largest economy as Beijing’s trade war with the U.S appeared to be taking a toll.
Stocks
- The Shanghai composite slipped about 0.49 percent.
- Shenzhen component index fell 0.59 percent.
- In South Korea, the Kospi declined nearly 0.6 percent.
- Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was down 1.42 percent.
- Australia’s benchmark ASX 200 reversed early gains to trade down 0.13 percent.
- E-minis for the S&P 500 (ESc1) declined 0.8 percent.
- FTSE futures (FFIc1) slipped 0.4 percent.
Currencies
- the Australian dollar traded at $0.7201 as of 10:56 a.m. HK/SIN, advancing from levels near $0.7120 in the previous week.
- The single currency was last at $1.1475.
- The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of its peers, traded at 95.581.
- The Japanese yen, considered a safe haven asset, was at 108.22 to the dollar.
Commodities
- Oil prices extended losses from Friday.
- U.S. crude (CLc1) fell 58 cents to $51.01.
- Brent (LCOc1) eased 68 cents to $59.80.
- Gold gained to inch towards a recent seven-month high of $1,298.42 an ounce.