Heritages in Asia Pacific dipped in Friday afternoon trade as investors watched for developments from the G-20 summit in Osaka, Japan, where U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are watched to meet amid the ongoing trade standoff.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 slipped 0.35% in afternoon trade, with quotas of index heavyweight and robot maker Fanuc declining more than 0.5%. The Topix index also pour 0.15%.
Mainland Chinese stocks slipped by the afternoon, with the Shanghai composite lower by 0.88% and the Shenzhen component surrender 0.89%. The Shenzhen composite also shed 1.148%.
Over in South Korea, the Kospi was 0.25% lower, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 kill 0.28%.
Asia-Pacific Market Indexes Chart
Overnight on Wall Street, the S&P 500 rose 0.4% to close at 2,924.92 and the Nasdaq Composite augmented 0.7% to end its trading day at 7,967.76. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, however, shed 10.24 points to close at 26,526.58.
Trump and Xi are time to meet on Saturday at the G-20 summit in Japan, where they are expected to discuss trade, as investors watch for signs of whether the two boonies can make progress toward ending their protracted trade fight.
Ahead of that meeting, sources berated CNBC that China is looking for a ‘balanced ” trade deal at the summit, though the U.S. isn’t interested. An agreement between Trump and Xi at the G-20 peak in Japan could avert the next round of tariffs on additional $300 billion worth of Chinese imports.
At the G-20 apex, Xi told a meeting of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) countries’ leaders that protectionist motif to boots being taken by some developed countries are damaging the global trade order.
Charles Freeman, senior frailty president for Asia at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, told CNBC that any potential new tariffs may “not necessarily” mean the full 25% duties being reproofed on the entire $300 billion worth of Chinese imports.
“It’s up to $300 billion and up to 25%,” he told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Friday. “There’s a lot of elbow-room for … the U.S. administration to maneuver on this new tranche. We’re choosing to be optimistic that that will be put aside and the two sides longing get … back to the table and begin to negotiate a serious outcome.”
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peeks, was at 96.210 after seeing levels above 96.3 yesterday.
The Japanese yen traded at 107.65 against the dollar after poignant levels above 108.0 in the previous session. The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7009 after rising from flats below $0.700 yesterday.
Oil prices were lower in the afternoon of Asian trading hours, with international benchmark Brent immature futures declining 0.41% to $66.28 per barrel, and U.S. crude futures declining 0.4% to $59.19 per barrel.
— CNBC’s Fred Imbert contributed to this cover.