Asian markets falter as US and China trade on trade

BANGKOK (AP) – Asian stocks tremor Monday after US and Chinese authorities exchanged speeches amid growing trade and technology clashes.

Shanghai's Chinese composite, down 0.5% to 2884.54, revealed a deterioration in the manufacturing sector's outlook in May. The Japanese Nikkei 225 index lost 1.3% in the middle of the day, to settle at 20,343.52, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 0.4% to 26,807.91. The S & P ASX 200 fell 0.9% to 6,340.90.

South Korean President Lee Jae-yong has invited the giant's top executives to discuss the company's strategy focus on its core business as it slows the demand for computer chips and smartphones as well as the repercussions of this trade. conflict between Beijing and Washington.

In India, Senbad rose 0.5% to 39,912.03, while shares fell in Taiwan and Singapore. Markets in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand have been closed.

A private survey, the Manufacturing Purchasing Managers PMI, remained stable at 50.2 in May. Business confidence, however, dropped to its lowest level since the series began in April 2012. The official manufacturing PMI, released on Friday, has reached one of the lowest levels in three years.

China issued a report Sunday that blamed the conflict over the Trump administration, but has refrained from announcing the details of a reprisal plan against an American blacklist of Huawei Technologies. On Friday, he announced that he would soon announce his own list of "unreliable entities" made up of foreign companies, corporations and individuals.

Wang Shouwen, China's Vice Minister of Commerce and Deputy International Trade Representative, said China would release more specific information on the list in the near future, but said the list was aimed at companies that "violated market principles" and reduced supply of components for Chinese companies for non-commercial purposes. the reasons.

Meanwhile, in Singapore, the Chinese Defense Minister warned that his army would "act resolutely" to defend Beijing's claims on autonomous Taiwan and the disputed areas of the South China Sea.

In his comments to the heads of defense, officials, and academics participating in the Shangri-La dialogue in Singapore, General Wei Fenghe did not lead this thread in the United States, and the acting Secretary of Defense of the United States United, Patrick Shanahan, was not in the audience.

But Wei had harsh words about the trade war with Washington.

"As for the recent trade frictions started by the United States, if the United States wants to talk, we will keep the door open … they want to fight, we will fight to the end", Wei said. "As the Chinese public said these days, a discussion, welcome." A fight, we're ready. "We're intimidating, no way."

A report released Sunday by the Office of the Cabinet spokesman said that China would not retreat on "major issues of principle", but did not know whether or how the world's second largest economy could respond to US tariffs on products made in China.

"Understand that trade disputes are the catalyst for the real problem: a slowdown in global growth, which leads to stagflation and recessionary conditions," said Chris Weston of Pepperstone in a comment. "With the news of the trade-focused weekend, where a Chinese white paper attributed responsibility for relations to Trump, among Chinese authorities investigating FedEx, everything suggests that the situation will only get worse before to improve. "

In the United States, the stock market fell on Friday on its first month lost in 2019, mainly because of President Donald Trump's decision to exercise his tariff power largely, first against China for trade, then against the Mexico for immigration.

Friday's losses came after Trump shocked investors by announcing plans to impose tariffs on Mexico through Twitter, with the aim of forcing the country's third-largest trading partner to crack down on migrants. were trying to enter the United States.

This decision caused a mbadive selloff that cut more than 350 points in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which fell 1.4% to 24,815.04. The sale left the S & P 500 benchmark down 6.6% for the month, losing 1.3% to 2752.06.

This is the first time that the S & P 500 has been down for four consecutive weeks since the fall of 2014.

The Nasdaq slid 1.5% to 7.453.15. The Russell 2000 Small Business Index yielded 1,465.49, up 1.4%.

New tariffs on Mexican products have shocked investors already worried about a global trade war that would dampen economic growth. This is particularly difficult for car manufacturers who import vehicles from Mexico.

Investors fled to safer investments all month long. The shift to utilities and bonds accelerated earlier in May, after the United States and China halted negotiations. The United States then pushed more tariffs on Chinese products and banned technology sales. This has resulted in retaliatory tariffs from China and threats to rare earth supplies and other key resources.

The flight to shelters pushed the Japanese yen up sharply against the US dollar. On Monday, the dollar traded at 108.11 yen, down 108.28 yen on Friday night. Last week, the dollar was trading at around 110 yen.

The euro rose from 1.11170 dollar on Friday to 1.1181 dollar.

Increasing uncertainty about the economic outlook has resulted in a sharp decline in energy futures.

The benchmark US crude oil sold $ 59.9 to $ 52.91 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It dropped 5.5% to settle at $ 53.50 a barrel on Friday. Brent Brut, the international standard, was slipping 88 cents to 61.11 dollars a barrel. It closed down 3.6% on Friday.

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