· Stocks in Europe hovered around the flatline on Friday as trade fears returned.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 was trading flat with most sectors and major bourses in the red. Autos were the worst-performing sector on growing fears that the Chinese and U.S trade relations will deteriorate.
· Reports on Thursday suggested that President Donald Trump is unlikely to meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping before March. As a result, investors are considering whether they will reach an agreement over trade before a self-imposed deadline of March 2. Failing to reach a compromise would mean additional tariffs on Chinese goods straight away.
Furthermore, fresh reports on Friday indicated that Trump could sign an order next week banning Chinese telecommunication equipment from U.S. wireless networks.
· Russian aluminum giant Rusal expects demand for aluminum to grow in 2019 and sees potential for prices to rise, it said on Friday, sending its Hong Kong-listed shares up 12 percent to a 10-month high.
· Asian stocks lost ground on Friday as investors worried about a broadening global economic slowdown, with sentiment not helped by the absence of any positive signs for a resolution in the U.S.-China trade row.
Spreadbetters expected European stocks to open mixed, with Britain’s FTSE inching up 0.1 percent, Germany’s DAX retreating 0.05 percent and France’s CAC starting flat.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan shed 0.5 percent, easing back from a four-month peak touched the previous day. The index was down 0.1 percent on the week.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 0.25 percent and South Korea’s KOSPI retreated 1.1 percent. Japan’s Nikkei tumbled about 2 percent.
Reference: CNBC, Reuters
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