Yahoo Finance Asian Stocks Slip; Nikkei Underperforms as Yen Strengthens After Trump’s Comments
Investing.com – Asian stocks slipped in morning trade on Monday, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 underperformed its regional peers with a stronger yen being cited as the catalyst for the selling in equities.
On Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump accused the European Union and China of manipulating their currencies.
"China, the European Union and others have been manipulating their currencies and interest rates lower," Trump said in a tweet over the weekend. That, coupled with U.S. interest rate hikes, was weakening U.S.’s economy as the dollar strengthened, Trump claimed.
His comments on currency came after he told CNBC in an interview that he was prepared to impose tariffs on all Chinese goods to the U.S.
"I'm ready to go to 500," said Trump, referring to the $505.5 billion in goods from China the U.S. imported in 2017.
The U.S. and China exchanged new tariffs on $34 billion worth of goods on each other earlier this month. The Trump administration has also announced a list of proposed duties on $200 billion in Chinese imports, although those tariffs have not yet kicked in.
In Asia, Japanese stocks were under pressure by strength in the yen as the dollar weakened following events over the weekend. The Nikkei 225 was down 1.2% by 9:55PM ET (01:55 GMT).
China’s Shanghai Composite and the Shenzhen Component both slipped 0.1%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index also fell 0.2%.
South Korea’s KOSPI traded 0.7%. Index heavyweight Samsung Electronics (KS:005930) declined almost 2%, although the losses were partially offset by gains in automakers.
Down under, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.8%.
Looking ahead, Australia CPI and South Korea’s GDP are both due later this week.
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