Forex Marketz Daily Forex News – Fully Markets Update
Sentiment in the Asian and Pacific Rim is not very good on Friday as the week draws to an end.
Traders are monitoring news that China is getting ready to impose new laws on Hong Kong and tensions between the United States and China continue to mount worrying Asian area traders.
The United States is accusing China of meddling in their upcoming elections and the U.S. President, Donald Trump, continues to fire warning shots about China’s role in the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Asian traders are also digesting recent weekly unemployment data out of the United States that saw millions of more Americans filed for first time unemployment benefits. Continuing claims also swelled. This indicates that U.S. firms are still not hiring and the economic blow from the coronavirus lockdown could be worse than imagined.
In Japan, the benchmark Nikkei 225 was down 0.27 percent by late morning hours, Hong Kong time. The broader Topix index, in Tokyo, was down 0.33 percent.
Asian Sentiment Drags Markets Lower
In South Korea, the Kospi composite index was down just over three quarters of a percent and in Australia, the ASX 200 was down about 0.33 percent.
On the mainland, in China, the Shanghai composite shed 0.6 percent and the smaller Shenzhen composite was down have a percent.
Regional Traders Monitor Hong Kong
The Hang Seng index, in Hong Kong, fell over three percent as shares of insurance giant AIA fell 4.25 percent.
News reports, on Thursday, are indicating that China will impose national security laws for Hong Kong. This follows yearlong pro-democracy protests in the City State that started in 2019.
These protests were occasionally violent and clashes with security personal were vicious and disruptive of the economy. Then the coronavirus came into play ending the protests, for now.
These new lows would ban secession, foreign interference, terrorism and all seditious activities against the central government controlled by China. These new law would make any foreign interference illegal.
