Sydney — Asian stocks sank on Monday as fears of faster rate hikes in the US and uncertainty around the China-US trade war deterred investment in riskier assets, while sterling jumped to a two-week high on the hope of an orderly Brexit. Markets are expected to be skittish ahead of US congressional midterm elections on Tuesday. Opinion polls show a strong chance that the Democratic Party could win control of the House of Representatives after two years of wielding no practical political power in Washington, with President Donald Trump’s Republican Party likely to hold the Senate. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan lost 1.5% on Monday, slipping back towards last week’s one-and-a-half-year trough of 505.61 points. Japan’s Nikkei stumbled 1.3% while South Korea’s Kopsi index plunged 1.4%. Chinese shares opened in the red with blue-chip stocks off 1.4% even as President Xi Jinping promised to lower import tariffs and continue to broaden market access. Xi, however,...
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