Asian Markets Stabilize after a Turbulent Week

Asian equity markets seemed to have stabilized as traders head into the afternoon trade session on Friday, Hong Kong time.

The Asian and Pacific Rim stock markets saw days of losses as traders monitored confusing trade headlines between the United States and China.

Regional traders are also looking towards a whole slew of purchasing managers’ indices out of the Eurozone and the United States today.

In Japan, the headline Nikkei 225 gained ground. This bourse was up 0.67 percent by lunchtime. In Tokyo, the broader Topix index added 0.47 percent.

In Japanese corporate news, shares of gaming company, Nintendo shed over 2.5 percent. This comes after the company was downgraded by Morgan Stanley.

In South Korea, the Kospi composite index was up 0.37 percent. Elsewhere in the Asian and Pacific Rim, the Australian ASX 200 was up 0.7 percent.

On the mainland, in China, shares were higher by noon. The Shanghai composite added 0.3 percent and the smaller Shenzhen composite was up well over half a percent.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index added 0.6 percent.

Asian Sentiment Buffeted by Trade Headlines and Key PMI Data comes into Focus

Trade news between China and the United States remains very much in focus for traders. These headlines are adding to market volatility in the equity markets.

These headlines have been far from clear.

This week, China’s Vice Premier Liu He said that he is “cautiously optimistic” of reaching a “phase one” trade deal with the United States.

Overnight, China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Geng Shuang said that “China will have to take strong countermeasures” against the United States. This warning, from China, comes after the U.S. Congress passed the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act of 2019.

Huang also said that “we hope the US will work with China to meet each other halfway and find a proper settlement.”