Asian stocks open mostly lower amid trade war jitters

Asian stock indices opened mostly lower on Wednesday, dragged by overall negative performance by the Japanese, Chinese and Australian stock indices, in addition to Hong Kong's Hang Seng, and the South Korean Kospi, while New Zealand stocks managed to open higher, as the market parse the latest developments in the US-China trade file. 

President Donald Trump renewed his threats to increase tariffs against Chinese imports on Tuesday, if Beijing does not sign the first phase of the trade deal with the US ahead of December 15, which diminished investors' risk appetite as it can be a major hurdle in the way of ending the trade war.

The US Senate yesterday passed a bill to support protesters in Hong Kong, while China condemned it and pledged to take steps to protect its sovereignty and security. This step by the US may, in turn, complicate trade talks between Washington and Beijing later, as a bill about Hong Kong's autonomy from China Hong Kong's will also be put to the House of Representatives for a vote and then for the president's signature.

As for the economic calendar today, the Japanese trade balance reading showed a surplus of 17.3 billion yen vs. a deficit of 125 billion-yen last September, lower than forecasts of a surplus of 301 billion yen, while the year-on-year reading showed showed the deficit narrowed to 35 billion yen vs. 64 billion yen in September, to fall short of forecasts of a surplus by 261 billion.

The Japanese exports reading (y/y) showed that the contraction widened to 9.2% vs. 5.2% in September, lower than forecasts of -7.5%, as the import reading showed a decline to 14.8% vs. 1.5% in September.

As for stocks, Japanese stocks traded lower during today's trading session, with the broader Topix index falling by 0.64% or 10.89 points to 1,685.84, and Nikkei 225 index lost 0.74% or 173.06 points to 23,119.59.

Chinese stocks also fell as the CSI 300 index fell by 0.50% or 19.79 points to 3,927.25, and the Shanghai Composite index fell by 0.42% or 12.41 points to 2,921.58.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell by 0.65% or 176.59 points to 26,917.21, and the South Korean Kospi lost 1.10% or 23.70 points to 2,129.54.

To Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index, which shed 1.31% or 89.02 points to 6,725.20, while New Zealand's NZX 50 rose by 0.43% or 46.56 points to 10,938.80.