Asian stocks open lower amid trade jitters, RBA meeting in focus

Asian stocks opened in the negative territory on the second session of the week and month, due to a sharp drop in Hong Kong's retail sales during last month, which posted the all-time largest decline by 26.2% year-on-year, as the strikes in the city continued.

The US president stated on Monday that his administration intends to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Brazil and Argentina due to the two countries manipulation and devaluations of their currencies' exchange rate, which negatively affect US farmers.

China, the world's largest importer of soybeans and many farm goods, has increased its import of agricultural crops from Brazil and Argentina to offset the reduction of its imports from the US, the world's largest exporter of soybeans and many other farm goods, especially after Beijing imposed tariffs on US agricultural imports amid the ongoing trade war between the two countries.

Trump also said that the signing of the Hong Kong bill to support protesters doesn’t make the trade talks with China "better", and he didn't know that it would hinder the trade talks and trade deal between the US and China, adding that China still wants a deal with Washington, "but we'll see what happens in the coming period."

US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross noted yesterday that the Trump administration is ready to increase the tariffs by 15% on Chinese goods worth $160 billion as scheduled on December 15, in case a trade agreement isn't reach, and added that the trade deal should be good and President Trump would not sign a bad deal, which has dampened investors' the risk appetite.

The Global Times newspaper reported on Sunday that China wants the US administration to rollback its tariffs on Chinese goods in the phase one of the interim trade agreement between Washington and Beijing in both sides' efforts to resolve the ongoing trade war between them, which has passed its first year.

This came amid the political turmoil in Hong Kong, and President Trump's signing a bill supporting Hong Kong protesters on Wednesday, which China denounced last weekend, and the Chinese Foreign Ministry stated that Beijing will take strong countermeasures against Washington, and that Washington had "evil intentions."

As for stocks, Japanese stock indices were lower during today's session, with the Topix index falling by 0.83% or 14.15 points to 1,700.34, and Nikkei 225 index fell by 0.98% or 231.62 points to 23,297.88.

Chinese stock indices also fell, as the CSI 300 index fell by 0.34% or 12.87 points to 3,823.19, and the Shanghai Composite index fell 0.46% or 13.27 points to 2,862.54.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index lost 0.87% or 229.29 points to 26,215.43. South Korea's Kospi fell 0.71% or 14.78 points to 2,077.14.

To Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index, which ell by 1.94 % or 133.37 points to 6,728.90, and New Zealand's NZX 50 fell by 0.58 % or 65.32 points to 11,236.66.