Asian stock markets mostly slipped Thursday, though did claw off their worst levels amid reports that China has agreed to take part in trade negotiations with the U.S. later this month, easing fears of an outright trade war.
Chinese stocks improved from early lows, though overall sentiment for equities — especially the mainland’s — remains soft. The Shanghai Composite SHCOMP, -0.66% briefly hit a fresh 2½-year intraday low, with weakness in energy stocks coming on the latest skid in oil prices.The index closed down 0.6%, while the Shenzhen Composite 399106, -0.99% gave up nearly 1%. Internet names were weak amid Tencent’s miss, but financials were relatively stable.
Trade tensions between the U.S. and China appeared to ease slightly after the two countries said they would hold lower-level talks later in August. The discussions would be the first since May when talks fell through and both sides have slapped penalties on tens of billions of dollars in each other’s goods.
After the broader market held up fairly well Wednesday after Tencent’s tumble, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index HSI, -0.82% was off 0.8%. Tencent 0700, -3.04% fell 3% a day after posting disappointing quarterly earnings.
Japan’s Nikkei NIK, -0.05% initially fell as much as 1.5% but closed down less than 0.1%. Declines were fueled in part by overnight gains in the yen. Nintendo 7974, -1.00% popped into positive territory, but still ended about 1% lower. It had dropped 2.5% early in the day, hitting 13-month lows.
Korea’s Kospi SEU, -0.80% was weakest early, down 0.8% after that market missed out on Wednesday’s broad regional declines because of a holiday. Index heavyweight Samsung 005930, -1.99% was off 2%, while SK Hynix 000660, -1.58% fell 1.6%.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 XJO, -0.01% was down 0.1% amid oil’s overnight slump and New Zealand’s NZX 50 NZ50GR, +0.13% continued to outperform, managing a 0.1% closing gain after falling slightly earlier in the day.
Indexes in Taiwan Y9999, -0.31% , Singapore STI, -0.69% and Malaysia FBMKLCI, -0.49% were down slightly.
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