•European markets opened lower Thursday despite a late rally in Wednesday afternoon trade, after CNBC revealed that the U.S. plans to delay auto tariffs on European imports by up to six months.
The pan-European STOXX 600 fell 0.4% after the opening bell, autos stocks leading the losses with a 1.3% decline in the early minutes of trade. Basic resources got off to the strongest start, climbing 0.5%.
Despite early losses across European markets Wednesday, autos finished around 2% higher Wednesday after three sources told CNBC Wednesday the administration will delay the tariffs, causing shares in carmakers Porsche, BMW and Daimler to climb.
•Asian shares struggled to find their footing on Thursday as confidence was shaken after the U.S. government hit Chinese telecoms giant Huawei with severe sanctions, threatening to further strain Sino-U.S. trade ties.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.25%, hovering not far off its lowest since late January.
Late on Wednesday, the U.S. Commerce Department said it was adding Huawei Technologies Co Ltd and 70 affiliates to its “Entity List” - a move that bans the company from acquiring components and technology from U.S. firms without government approval.
•Japan’s Nikkei fell on Thursday as weak U.S. and Chinese economic data and Sino-U.S. trade frictions soured sentiment, while banks tumbled on weak earnings reports.
The Nikkei share average ended down 0.6% at 21,062.98 points
“Most investors expected that the U.S. economy would be strong, so it shocked the market, especially after weak China’s economic data,” said Hiroyuki Ueno, a senior strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Asset Management.
China reported surprisingly weaker growth in retail sales and industrial output for April on Wednesday, raising fresh questions about the health of its economy as the U.S. ramps up trade pressure.
“It sends a cautionary signal on the soundness of (China’s) domestic economy, when external uncertainty has been elevated,” economists at Bank Of America Merrill Lynch wrote in a research note.
•China stocks ended higher on Thursday, extending a strong rally in the previous session, as Beijing is expected to roll out more stimulus to shore up the world’s second largest economy amid external uncertainties.
The blue-chip CSI300 index rose 0.5%, to 3,743.96, while the Shanghai Composite Index closed up 0.6% at 2,955.71.
Shares of Huawei suppliers were dealt a heavy blow, after the Trump administration hit the Chinese telecoms giant with severe sanctions on Wednesday, adding another incendiary element to the U.S.-China trade dispute just as Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he would visit China soon for more talks.
•Foreign investors have been fleeing Chinese stocks so far this month, but J.P Morgan Asset Management’s head of Greater China Equities says those outflows are just “a blip.”
Since the beginning of May, foreign money has pulled out from the Shanghai and Shenzhen markets through Hong Kong’s Stock Connect platform, reportedly amounting to $7.56 billion of Chinese A-shares in the 20 trading sessions up to May 14.
However, Wang told CNBC that Chinese A-shares, or Chinese yuan-denominated mainland stocks, should see “substantial inflows” in the longer term.
“It’s a under-owned market, by definition ... It’s a broad, deep and very, very large market, so there are plenty of opportunities for plenty of different types of investors,” he said.
Reference: Reuters, CNBC
Thai
Eng