Asian shares were mostly lower Thursday, following a slip on Wall Street, as investors watched the continuing trade talks between the U.S. and China.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 NIK, -1.50% lost 1.5% in early trading, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 XJO, +0.37% recouped earlier losses to be up 0.3%. South Korea’s Kospi SEU, -0.51% fell nearly 0.7%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng HSI, -0.06% was little changed but slightly lower, while the Shanghai Composite SHCOMP, -0.26% was also down less than 0.1%.
Among individual stocks, Toyota 7203, -1.46% , Sony 6758, -2.04% and Japan Steel 5631, -3.54% fell in Tokyo trading. In Hong Kong, China Construction Bank 0939, -1.02% declined after posting its first quarterly drop in profit in almost four years. ACC Technologies 2018, -1.62% also dropped, while Sands China 1928, +0.39% gained. LG Electronics 066570, -1.22% and SK Hynix 000660, -0.68% fell in Korea.
Technology and health care companies drove a broad slide in U.S. stocks Wednesday, erasing some of the market’s solid gains from a day earlier. The sell-off put the Dow Jones Industrial Average on track to end the month with a loss and marked the second drop for the benchmark S&P 500 index this week.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note TMUBMUSD10Y, -0.63% continued to decline, raising some fears about a possible recession within the coming year.
The S&P 500 SPX, -0.46% dropped 13.09 points, or 0.5%, to 2,805.37. The Dow DJIA, -0.13% slid 32.14 points, or 0.1%, to 25,625.59. The Nasdaq composite COMP, -0.63% lost 48.15 points, or 0.6%, to 7,643.38.
Investors are still waiting to see how the U.S. and China will resolve their costly trade dispute, with high-level talks between Washington and Beijing scheduled to resume.
The Trump administration and Chinese officials are about to hold their eighth round of trade talks in Beijing with several tough issues unresolved, including a timetable for lifting tariffs and a way to enforce any agreement.
Many analysts say they expect some limited agreement to be reached in the coming weeks or months. Yet it’s unclear how far any accord would go.
Benchmark U.S. crude CLK9, -0.32% fell 22 cents to $59.19 a barrel. It fell 0.9 percent to settle at $59.41 a barrel Wednesday. Brent crude LCOK9, -0.22% , used to price international oils, edged down 20 cents to $67.04 a barrel.
The dollar USDJPY, -0.29% inched down to 110.21 yen from 110.29 yen.
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