Investing.com – Asian equities continued to follow the U.S downtrend in afternoon trading on Friday, extending Wall Street’s selloff as U.S. President Donald Trump announced plans of tariffs on steel and aluminum imports that sparked fears of a global trade war.
Overnight, the S&P 500 slumped 1.3%, while the Dow also lost 1.7%.
The U.S. tariffs would raise steel and aluminum’s import prices, as Trump planned to slap a 25% duty on steel and 10% on aluminum. The tariffs are expected to be implemented broadly, without targeting any specific countries. An official announcement is expected sometime next week.
Asian steel maker shares fell following the news, with Japan’s Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp. (T:5401) closed 3.9% lower, South-Korea listed Posco Inc (KS:005490) and Hyundai Steel (KS:004020) tumbled 3.6% and 3.0% respectively, while China’s Chalco and Shanghai Baosteel Packaging Co Ltd (SS:601968) also slipped as much as 1.1% and 3.3% respectively. The Aussie miners were mixed, with Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) falling 1.8% while Bluescope Steel Ltd (AX:BSL) bucked the trend and rose 0.8%.
Meanwhile, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s second appearance was also in focus as he said there was “no strong evidence of a decisive move up in wages” and made investors drop bet on further rate hikes.
Japan’s Nikkei traded sharply lower Friday. A strengthening yen, boosted by bullish unemployment data, was cited as a catalyst for selling in local equities. The unemployment rate came in at 2.4% - near a 25-year low – versus the estimated 2.8%. The Nikkei slid to its lower level since October, down 2.7% at the close.
A separate data showed core consumer inflation in Tokyo, a leading indicator of nationwide price trends, accelerated to 0.9% in February from 0.7% last month. Bank of Japan’s Kuroda received some attention as he ruled out near-term rate hike.
Chinese stocks were also weaker after U.S. stocks posted a third day of decline. The Shanghai Composite and the Shenzhen Component lost 0.6% and 0.5% respectively. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 closed 0.7% lower, while Rio Tinto made headlines after The Australian Securities and Investments Commission said the miner made misleading statements in their annual report.
Elsewhere, South Korea’s KOSPI fell 1.1%. The country’s president Moon Jae-in is expected to nominate a new central bank chief next Monday as current BOK governor Lee Ju-yeol’s term would end on March 31, a local news agency reported citing a presidential official.
Lee chaired his last policy decision meeting last week, at which the central bank left its rate unchanged as expected.