Asian markets retreated in early trading Friday, as the G-20 summit kicked off in Japan.
President Donald Trump met with the leaders of Japan, Germany and India on the sidelines of the G-20 meeting in Osaka, Japan, and said he was optimistic about making trade deals with all three of those countries. Trump was scheduled to meet with Russia’s Vladimir Putin later in the day, and with China’s Xi Jinping on Saturday, and hopes are high that the meeting with Xi will produce a cease-fire in the trade war.
Japan’s Nikkei
slipped 0.6% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index
fell 0.7%. The Shanghai Composite
dropped 1% and the smaller-cap Shenzhen Composite
slid 1.3%. South Korea’s Kospi
declined 0.2%, and benchmark indexes in Taiwan
, Singapore
and Indonesia
were mixed. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200
fell 0.2%.
Among individual stocks, beer maker Sapporo Holdings
gained in Tokyo trading, while Japan Steel
and Chiba Bank
fell. In Hong Kong, food processor WH Group
sank, as did oil producer CNOOC
and casino operator Sands China
. Chip maker SK Hynix
fell in South Korea, and BHP
and Rio Tinto
dropped in Australia.
