Asian stocks fell today after soft Chinese economic data showed the trade war between Beijing and Washington hitting growth in the world’s second-largest economy.
Asian Shares
- MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan , which had drifted in to positive territory in morning trade, turned negative to trade 0.4 per cent lower.
- Japan’s Nikkei stock index dropped 0.6 per cent.
- Shanghai blue chips turned from positive to flat.
- Australia’s S&P/ASX200 index wiped some of its gains to trade less than 0.5 per cent higher by mid afternoon in Sydney.
- Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell almost another percentage point today.
- US stock futures fell 0.1 per cent in Asia today after the S&P 500 eked out a 0.07 per cent gain.
Currency
- In currency markets, the yen was quoted at 108.73 per dollar.
- The Swiss franc traded at 0.9901 versus the greenback.
- The Australian dollar skidded to a one-month low today after a worryingly weak reading on.
- The dollar faded to 109.26 yen.
Bonds
- The yield on benchmark 10-year Treasury notes fell slightly to 1.8774 per cent.
Commodities
- US crude rose 0.4 per cent to US$57.32 a barrel after a fall in stockpiles added to positive comments by the US Federal Reserve head on the US economy.
