Asian stocks open lower on growing trade war concerns

Asian stocks opened lower on Monday with a six-month low as traders' worries developed progressively about the trade protectionism and the trade war between the world's two greatest economies, as well as the massive strikes in Hong Kong that reached a general strike as the situation has worsened since June after a riot there to protest China's extradition bill, which has been suspended while not completely pulled back.

The Chinese yuan tumbled to levels underneath 7 yuan for each US dollar for the first time in a decade after US President Donald Trump's decision on Thursday to force 10 percent tariffs on Chinese imports worth $300 billion, which should become effective at the first of September, Trump said last Friday that he could raise taxes on China to an "a lot higher figure" before saying last Saturday that things were going great, while consequently China promised to confront the threat of tariffs.

Seoul reported plans to contribute about 7.8 trillion Korean won ($6.48 billion) in innovative work to support local production of commodities and equipment throughout the following seven years, which spectators saw as plans to lessen South Korea's reliance on imports from Japan, after Tokyo a week ago expelled Seoul from the "white list" of exchange accomplices with a fast fare status and following Tokyo's ongoing burden of limitations on fares of cutting edge materials and products important to the production of semiconductors in Seoul.

The Japanese stock indices saw a decline during today's trading session, with the broader Topix index falling by 2.40% to lose 36.85 points down to 1,496.61, Nikkei 225 fell by 2.35% (496.29 points) to 20,590.87.

China's stocks saw a sharp drop too with the CSI 300 falling by 0.53% to 19.99 points to 3,727.45, the Shanghai index fell by 0.43% (12.35 points) to reach 2,855.48.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell by 2.45% (659.08 points) to 26,259.50. South Korea's Kospi fell by 2.10%, shedding 42.04 points to 1,956.09.

To New Zealand's NZX 50 index, which fell by 0.64% to lose 69.46 points down to 10,794.40, on the other hand the Australian S&P/ASX 200 index fell by 1.26% to lose 85.27 points and reach 6,683.30.