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- Varchev Finance: Trading day in one post – 19.09.2018
Varchev Finance: Trading day in one post - 19.09.2018
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Loading...Asia markets rose on Wednesday as investors reacted to Beijing's response on fresh tariffs the U.S. implemented on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports.
In Australia, the benchmark ASX 200 rose 0.3 percent, with the materials and energy sectors gaining 1.59 percent and 1.16 percent, respectively. Major mining stocks rose: Shares of Rio Tinto were up 2.5 percent, Fortescue jumped 3.18 percent and BHP gained 2.19 percent.
Japan's Nikkei 225 was up 1.51 percent and the Topix index added 1.5 percent.
In South Korea, the Kospi traded near flat.
China announced tariffs targeting more than 5,000 U.S. products — worth about $60 billion will go into effect on Sept. 24. However, China will put a 10 percent tariff on some goods it had previously earmarked for a 20 percent levy. At the same time, China's commerce ministry said that it filed a complaint to the World Trade Organization (WTO) against the U.S.
Beijing's announcement came after the Trump administration said the U.S. will impose 10 percent tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports, and those duties will rise to 25 percent at the end of the year.
"China is limited in its scope for direct retaliation from here, with only $50 billion worth of imports left to target, but so far has refrained from threatening to tariff all imports from the U.S.," Jo Masters from ANZ Research said in a morning note.
The complaint to the WTO risks provoking further measures from the U.S. and could eventually escalate to all American imports from China being taxed, Masters added.
"Increasingly it looks like this will be a prolonged dispute. And as it escalates, so does the economic fall-out," Masters said.
Amid all that, China's holdings of U.S. Treasury bills, notes and bonds dropped to a six month low of $1.171 trillion in July, from $1.178 trillion in June. That data is watched because dumping Treasury securities is viewed as one way China could retaliate against the U.S. in the ongoing trade dispute. Still, strategists are skeptical China is really trying to send a message this way.
In the currency market, the dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, traded at 94.590 at 8:41 a.m. HK/SIN, falling from levels above 94.800 earlier in the week.
The Japanese yen, which is considered a safe haven currency, traded at 112.27 to the dollar, weakening from levels below 111.6 in the previous week. Relative weakness in the yen saw major Japanese exporters trade up, with Toyota shares gaining 0.93 percent, Nissan up 1.07 percent and Honda adding 2.25 percent.
Elsewhere, the Australian dollar traded at $0.7222, strengthening from levels below $0.7120 in the previous week.
Analysts said that markets have mostly shrugged off the escalation in trade tensions between the world's two largest economies.
"Risk markets have not only taken these announcements in their stride, but it's been a risk-on mood permeating markets with stocks, commodities, bond yields, and risk-sensitive currencies all performing," David de Garis, director for economics and markets at the National Australia Bank, wrote in a note.
He pointed out that there's a realization among investors that the U.S. economy has continued to perform despite what will likely be some uptick in inflation from the tariffs. Investors are also recognizing signs that the Chinese authorities are taking steps to buttress their economy with more policy support, De Garis said.
Oil prices traded down in the morning session in Asia, with U.S. crude down 0.24 percent at $69.68 a barrel and global benchmark Brent lower by 0.28 percent at $78.81.
Overnight, oil futures gained more than 1 percent following signs that OPEC would not be prepared to raise output to address shrinking supplies from Iran, reports said.
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