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Asian Stock Market Down on Tariff Threat

The Asian stock market edged lower on Tuesday, as the latest negative developments on trade acted as the catalyst behind the selling pressure.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.4%. This followed after Australian equities registered a 2.2% loss to mark as their worst day in two months.

The index was last down by 0.4% to $522.43.

Japan’s Nikkei closed the session with a 0.64% drop to ¥23,379.81.

Chinese shares were also in the red. The CSI300 index shed as much as 0.62%, before recovering to post small improvements.

The blue-chip index was last seen trading with a 0.39% gain to CN¥3,851.09.

The Shanghai Composite declined by 0.08%. It reached its lowest point since August 26 earlier in the day but later rebounded to add 0.31% to CN¥2,884.70.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slipped 0.20% to HK$26,391.30, after earlier stumbling as much as 1.44%.

While the negative trade developments weighed on the Asian stock market, the same cannot be exactly said with the European shares.

A pan-European equity index rose 0.3% on Tuesday, having lost 1.6% the previous day to register its largest one-day slump in two months.

France’s CAC 40, however, shed 0.3% to €5,766.15.

Germany’s trade-sensitive DAX 30, on the other hand, advanced 0.5% to €13,031.64.

Shares in luxury products maker Louis Vuitton SE, Kering SA, and Hermès International SA, were down about 2% to one-month lows.

 Asian Stock Market Pressured on Potential Global Trade Disputes

The overall mood of the markets remained gloomy on Tuesday. US President Donald Trump showed he is capable of opening new trade war fronts. Despite the signs of economic damage around the world.

Washington has cautioned to impose retaliatory tariffs of up to 100% on $2.4 billion worth of French imports, including Champagne, handbags, and cheese.

Trump has also threatened to reemploy duties on imports of Brazilian and Argentinian metal products.

The President stated that the move was meant to counter what he described as both countries’ massive devaluation of their currencies.

France said it would respond strongly to tariffs on their said goods.

The decision, according to US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, was necessary as the French tax discriminates against US companies, is inconsistent with prevailing principles of international tax policy. And it is unusually burdensome for affected US companies and Asian stock market.



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