Visits: 2
Asia markets were mixed on Wednesday morning on the back of news that China will be making a request to the World Trade Organization to impose sanctions on the U.S.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell by 0.18 percent in the early trading hours, as South Korea’s Kospi was higher by 0.13 percent.
In Australia, the ASX 200 declined by 0.44 percent as the financial sector fell by 0.61 percent.
Overnight on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the trading day around 114 points higher to close at 25,971.06. The Nasdaq Composite was up by 0.61 percent to close at about 7,972.47 while the S&P 500 advanced by approximately 0.37 percent to end the day at 2,887.89.
On Tuesday, it was revealed that China will approach the WTO next week to request for permission to impose sanctions on the U.S. The meeting, which is scheduled to take place on Sept. 21, comes amid an escalation of tensions between the two economic powerhouses on trade issues.
U.S. President Donald Trump announced last Friday that he was prepared to slap more tariffs on $267 billion of Chinese imports into America if he desired.
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of currencies, was at 95.28 as of 8:05 a.m. HK/SIN, off its low from yesterday.
The Japanese yen traded near flat against the dollar at 111.55, while the Aussie dollar declined to $0.7108, as of 8:07 a.m. HK/SIN.
Overnight in the oil markets, prices climbed on the back of the impending U.S. sanctions on Iran in November and a lowering of forecasts to reflect expectations of slower growth in crude production stateside in 2019.
In Asia morning trade, the global benchmark Brent crude futures were up by 0.3 percent at $79.30 per barrel, while U.S. crude futures were 0.81 percent higher at $69.81 per barrel as the U.S. east coast braced for a major hurricane.
Hurricane Florence, a Category 4 storm barreling toward North Carolina and South Carolina, is expected to make landfall later this week.
— Reuters contributed to this report.