Asian markets fall, following Wall Street’s lead

Asian markets fell in early trading Wednesday, following losses on Wall Street as the trade war between the U.S. and China showed no signs of thawing.

With a lull in economic releases closer to home, investors digested President Donald Trump’s comments that the country was “not ready” for a trade deal with China. Trump spoke to reporters in Tokyo on Monday.

Late Tuesday, the U.S. decided not to label China a currency manipulator, although it was on a list, along with eight other countries, whose trade surpluses with the United States and other indicators are being closely tracked.

Also late Tuesday, Huawei Technologies Co. filed a motion in U.S. court challenging the constitutionality of a law that limits its sales of telecom equipment.

Japan’s Nikkei

NIK, -1.16%

fell 1.1%, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index

HSI, -0.40%

retreated 0.4%. The Shanghai Composite

SHCOMP, -0.11%

inched down 0.2%. South Korea’s Kospi

180721, -1.44%

dropped 1.3%, and benchmark indexes in Taiwan

Y9999, -0.25%

, Singapore

STI, -0.27%

and Indonesia

JAKIDX, +0.99%

were mixed. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200

XJO, -0.74%

slipped 0.7%.

Among individual stocks, convenience-store chain FamilyMart

8028, -5.24%

tumbled in Tokyo trading. Sony

6758, -2.18%

and Fast Retailing

9983, -1.45%

fell as well. in Hong Kong, Sunny Optical

2382, +1.16%

gained, while Sands China

1928, -2.57%

and AIA Group

1299, -1.35%

declined. Samsung

005930, -2.12%

retreated in South Korea. Beach Energy

BPT, -1.92%

and Oil Search

OSH, -0.90%

fell in Australia.

“To some extent, the sparing of China as a currency manipulator had been expected but provides some relief for one watching the U.S.-China trade impasse,” Jingyi Pan of IG said in a market commentary.

She added that China’s official PMI for May, which will be released on Friday, would be watched an indicator of the initial impact of tariffs on growth.

Over on Wall Street, stocks closed broadly lower as investors who felt jittery about long-term growth shifted money into bonds. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury fell to 2.26%, its lowest level since September 2017.

The broad S&P 500 index

SPX, -0.84%

slipped 0.8% to 2,802.39 on Tuesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average

DJIA, -0.93%

shed 0.9% to 25,347.77 and the Nasdaq composite

COMP, -0.39%

was down 0.4% at 7,607.35.

Benchmark U.S. crude

CLN19, -1.05%

lost 63 cents to $58.51 per barrel. The contract rose 51 cents to $59.14 per barrel on Tuesday. Brent crude

BRNN19, -0.71%

, the international standard, fell 57 cents to $68.10 per barrel. It settled 10 cents lower at $68.67 per barrel in the previous session.