Asian markets were trading mixed on Wednesday afternoon, as traders remained cautious in the face of continued trade tensions between the United States and China. According to reports from CNBC, Washington has declined a trade planning meeting with China that was expected to be scheduled for this week. The report claims that the meeting was cancelled due to lingering disagreements about intellectual property rules. Another meeting is expected to be held at the end of the month, in the hopes of advancing a mutually-agreeable trade agenda that will be confirmed before the March 1 deadline after which U.S. President Donald Trump has said that he will implement new tariffs.
South Korea’s Kopsi was trading up 0.31 percent as of 2:29 p.m. HK/SIN on Wednesday, and China’s Shenzhen Composite was up 0.09 percent. All other major indexes were trading lower. The Shanghai Composite was down 0.14 percent, Australia’s ASX 200 was down 0.26 percent and Japan’s Nikkei 225 was down 0.14 percent. The losses in Japan were tempered by the lower yen.
The mixed trading in Asia came after all three major Wall Street indexes closed down on Tuesday.
Currency Movements
The U.S. dollar soared 0.29 percent against the yen on Wednesday, trading at 109.68. The yen also fell 0.5 percent against the Australian dollar. The Bank of Japan announced on Wednesday that it would be keeping monetary policy stable, and it trimmed its inflation forecast due to a larger-than-expected decline in December exports which highlighted the need to continue supporting the economy.
The dollar index was trading flat on Wednesday afternoon in Asia, with the greenback gaining modestly against the dollar but losing ground against the euro.