Asian Traders Cautious thanks to Trade Concerns

The Asian headline equity markets fell by Wednesday afternoon. Asian and regional traders are worried about developing trade tensions as talks between the United States and China start again. It looks like a trade deal is not in the cards anytime soon.

The Nikkei 225 was down 0.43 percent by the afternoon. Shares of hi-tech giant Softbank Group fell over two percent. In Tokyo, the broader Topix index was down a fraction.

In South Korea, the Kospi composite index surrendered 0.92 percent. Shares of chip maker SK Hynix were down 1.5 percent.

Elsewhere in the Asian and Pacific Rim the S&P ASX 200 was up almost half a percent (0.46 percent).

In China, the Shanghai composite was down a fraction. The smaller Shenzhen composite was up 0.48 percent and the Shenzhen component added 0.58 percent.

The Hong Kong benchmark, the Hang Seng index was down 0.3 percent.

In corporate news, live-streaming platform DouYu saw its initial public offering price (IPO) priced on the low side ahead of its debut today on the Nasdaq Composite. The firm is backed by Tencent. The company’s shares on the Hang Seng gained 0.22 percent today.

Asian Traders Monitor Trade Headlines between the U.S. and China

Trade talks between the United States and China start again. U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that he will talk to officials in China this week.

However, President Donald Trump is tweeting that “China wants to make a deal.” He is also saying that the two economic powerhouses are still a long way off from signing a trade deal that will end the trade war that is now entering its second year. The WTO has also made it possible for China to enforce sanctions against the United States thanks to their trade tariffs. This is creating uncertainty and worrying the global financial markets.