MANILA – Asian shares fell Friday after turbulent trading on Wall Street resulted in additional losses, as investors evaluated President Donald Trump’s new tariff orders targeting 68 countries and the European Union, set to take effect in a week.
Trump’s order, which pushed back the tariff deadline earlier set on Aug. 1, has injected a new dose of uncertainty in an already uncertain process.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 slid 0.4 % to 40,914.66 while South Korea’s Kospi tumbled 2.8% to 3,154.53.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index trimmed earlier losses, shedding 0.2% to 24,726.38, while the Shanghai Composite slipped 0.1% to 3,570.21.
Australia’s S&P ASX 200 shed 0.8% to 8,676.80, India’s BSE Sensex fell 0.4% to 81,185.58 and Taiwan’s TAIEX slid 0.4% to 23,453.56.
“US and European equity futures are pointing negative, Asian stocks are taking a beating and the DXY index is still rising,” remarked Benjamin Picton, senior market strategist at Rabo Bank, in response to Trump’s recent changes on reciprocal tariff rates.
“The USA is cherry-picking high value-add industry for its own economy while forcing trading partners to grant preferential market access for its exports and supply it with cheap imports. Make no mistake, this is imperial trade,” he commented further.
Mizuho Bank observed that, in a “somewhat a turn of the tables,” Asia, particularly Southeast Asia, which experienced greater difficulties post-‘Liberation Day’, now seems to be in a stronger position due to tariff differences, even though intra-regional differences are minor.
In the U.S. stock market on Thursday, stocks concluded the trading session with further downturns after a promising tech rally early on dissipated and a decline in the health care sector pushed the market lower.
The S&P 500 dropped 0.4%, marking its third consecutive decline. Despite being just below the latest record it achieved on Monday, the index recorded a 2.2% increase for the month of July and has risen 7.8% for the year thus far.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.7% and the Nasdaq composite closed less than 0.1% lower.
Roughly 70% of stocks in the S&P 500 lost ground, with health care companies accounting for the biggest drag on the market.
Health care stocks sank after the White House released letters asking big pharmaceutical companies to cut prices and make other changes in the next 60 days. Eli Lilly & Co. fell 2.6%, UnitedHealth Group slid 6.2% and Bristol-Myers Squibb dropped 5.8%.
Gains by some big technology stocks with hefty values helped temper the impact of the broader market’s decline.
Meta Platforms surged 11.3% after the parent company of Facebook and Instagram crushed Wall Street’s sales and profit targets even as the company continues to pour billions of dollars into artificial intelligence.
Microsoft climbed 3.9% after posting better results than analysts expected. The software pioneer also gave investors an encouraging update on its Azure cloud computing platform, which is a centerpiece of the company’s artificial intelligence efforts.
Big Tech companies have regularly been the driving force behind much of the market’s gains over enthusiasm for the future of artificial intelligence.
In other dealings Friday, U.S. benchmark crude oil lost 5 cents to $69.21 per barrel, while Brent crude, the international standard, shed 3 cents to $71.67 per barrel.
The U.S. dollar climbed to 150.68 Japanese yen from 150.67 yen. The euro rose to $1.1418 from $1.1421.
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Associated Press Business Writers Damian J. Troise and Alex Veiga contributed
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