Asian stocks open lower amid trade tensions concerns

Asian stocks opened for the fourth trading session on red in the shadow of investor concerns about the US-China trade war, which has not been calmed down and continues to escalate in one way or another by the US administration, which is opening trade war fronts with many countries, led by China and its largest technology company, Huawei.

Yesterday, we followed US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross's remarks, in which he noted that both President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, may decide to reopen trade talks in the G20 summit, noting that the summit which is scheduled to start in June 28-29 in Japan will not be the place where the signing of the trade agreement happen between the two largest economies in the world, adding that President Trump wants structural reforms in the trade agreement with China.

US Trade Secretary Ross also said that the Federal Reserve should have reconsidered the recent increase in interest on federal funds as premature, this comes a week before the FOMC meeting in Washington, which is due to be unveil the Commission's expectations for growth rates, inflation and unemployment as well as future interest rates for the next three years.

US President Trump said earlier this week that a trade deal with China could be reached because of tariffs and that Huawei could be part of the trade deal with China. He said that the strong economic growth for the US during the first quarter, which exceeded expectations came from tariffs.

In the same context, US President Trump warned on Monday that if his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping did not attend the G20 summit, he would immediately impose tariffs on Chinese goods, saying that Beijing should reach a trade deal with Washington because of its need to reach agreement, adding that China is currently exposed to complete destruction.

US President Trump noted at the time that foreign companies were working to leave China and go to other countries, including the United States. He said that the lack of a trade agreement with China would mean more tariffs, adding that tariffs are good and give the US a huge competitive advantage, "We were talking about an agreement with Mexico for months and there was no agreement even to impose tariffs."

US President Trump has repeatedly noted that China can expect to face more tariffs on its exports to the country, adding that America has already prepared a list of Chinese goods worth $300 billion, and that this list may be subject to tariffs, which came after Washington and Beijing raised tariffs on each other's goods to 25% from 10% last month in an escalation of trade protectionism among them.

In contrast, protests in Hong Kong against an unconstitutional bill to extradite criminals and outlaws to the Chinese government continue to overshadow Hang Seng's performance, particularly in the wake of heightened tensions between security forces and protesters there. China's legislature Chairman has decided to postpone the discussion of the law to an unspecified date in order to calm those tensions.

Japanese stocks witnessed a decline during today's trading session, with the broader Topix index falling by 1.30% to lose 20.27 points down to the level of 1,533.95, with Nikkei 225 losing 0.89% to lose 187.46 points down to 20,942.26.

China's benchmark index fell by 0.91% (33.65 points) reaching 3,657.45, the Shanghai index also fell by 0.71% (20.63 points) to 2,888.75.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index shed 1.74% (475.91 points) to 26,832.55. South Korea's Kospi Index fell 1.00% to shed 21.13 points to 2,088.31.

To the New Zealand NZX 50 index, which fell 0.02% (1.80 points) to reach 10,203.34. On the other hand, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index shed 0.09% and lost 6.14 points to reach 6,537.60.