Investing.com – Asian equities were mixed in morning trade on Wednesday as concerns over a looming trade war between U.S. and China continued to linger.
Overnight, the Dow fell 287.26 points and erased all of it gain for the year. The S&P 500 dropped 0.4% while the Nasdaq also slipped 0.3%.
Goldman Sachs) CEO Lloyd Blankfein’s comments raised some eyebrows on Wednesday as he said he is not too worried about the recent global trade tensions. U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff threats against China are a way “to remind your negotiating counterparty of how much firepower you have,” he said in an interview at the Economic Club of New York. “I don’t think we’re in a suicide pact on this.”
China’s Shanghai Composite and the Shanghai Component opened 0.07% and 0.02% lower by 9:40PM ET (01:40 GMT). Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index climbed 0.2%.
Yi Gang, governor of the People’s Bank of China, said in an interview with the Shanghai Securities News that policymakers are prepared for outside shocks, and called for investors to stay calm. The central bank is ready to utilise monetary policy following the standoff to stabilise the nation’s stock markets, he added.
“We’ll be forward-looking, prepare relevant policies, and comprehensively use all kinds of monetary policy tools,” Yi said. Stock market turbulence is “mostly driven by sentiment,” he said, adding that China has “room to face all sorts of trade friction.”
Meanwhile, Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un met in Beijing this week and came to an understanding on various issues, including denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, North Korea’s state media said on Wednesday.
Kim’s two-day visit to Beijing, which followed his Singapore summit last week, would end later today, the state media added.
South Korea’s KOSPI gained 0.9% in morning trade, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 also edged up 0.1%.
Down under, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 traded 0.7% higher.