Asian shares hardly changed as growth worries spook investors
Equities take a breather, with mounting signs of slowing global growth and concerns over trade war spoiling investor appetite for risk assets
Tokyo — Asian stocks took a breather on Wednesday, with mounting signs of slowing global growth and concerns over a yet-unresolved China-US trade dispute putting the brakes on investor appetite for risk assets. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was mostly unchanged, stalling after climbing to a seven-week high on Monday. The Shanghai Composite Index was last up 0.1%, having flitted in and out of the red. Australian stocks were a shade lower and Japan’s Nikkei nudged up 0.2%. On Wall Street, the S&P 500, the Nasdaq and the Dow all posted their biggest one-day percentage drops since January 3 on Tuesday. Following a sharp drop in December, US shares gained through much of January, supported in part by expectations for a thaw in US-China trade tensions and a more dovish-sounding Federal Reserve. That also prompted global investors to plough into riskier assets. But putting a dent on sentiment again was a report by Financial Times that the Trump administration h...
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