Asian shares open lower amid fears over US-China trade deal

Asian stock indices opened lower on Thursday, to follow their US counterparts as optimism about the US-China trade deal faded amid expectations of several hurdles in its way, in addition to fears over signing the 'Phase I' trade deal in the near-term before Washington begin the tariffs hike on Chinese goods scheduled for December 15.

Yesterday, Reuters, cited sources familiar with the talks that the two countries might not reach a trade agreement until next year, as US officials fear that the rollback of tariffs on Chinese goods won't allow discussions on both the intellectual property issues and technology transfer, which can't be considered as a victory by President Trump.

Moreover, Reuters revealed that US trade negotiators are concerned about president Trump reaction to any trade agreement that may come up later. Yet, Trump said yesterday that the trade talks will continue, and Beijing still wants to conclude the trade agreement, and wondered that if he wants that or not.

US Commerce Secretary, Wilbur Ross, also stated yesterday that the Commerce Department has received more than 290 applications for licenses from various companies and that they have already begun to examine those applications and is working to respond to about 20 licenses per day. 

Yesterday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said that China condemns the Hong Kong Human Rights Act and stated that it neglects facts and truth, hours after the US Senate passed it to support Hong Kong protesters. The bill is still before the House of Representatives for a vote and then will be passed for the president's signature.

As for trading, Japanese stocks fell today, with Topix index falling by 0.98% or 16.49 points to 1,674.62, and Nikkei 225 lost 1.19% or 276.54 points to 22,872.03.

Chinese stock indices also fell as well, as CSI 300 index fell by 0.18% or 7.16 points to 3,900.70, the Shanghai Composite slipped 0.10% or 2.88 points to 2,908.17.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell by 1.56% or 418.82 points to 26,470.79, along with the South Korean Kospi, which lost 1.22% or 25.85 to 2,099.47.

In Australia, S&P/ASX 200 fell by 0.82% or 54.82 points to 6,667.60. Similarly, New Zealand's NZX 50 fell by 0.01% or 1.09 points to 10,974.40.