Asian stocks slumped to a 14-month low, Friday morning (7/9), triggered by investor anticipation of a heated trade war between the United States and China. Meanwhile, regional exchanges did not receive an injection of enthusiasm from Wall Street which was pressured by technology stocks in yesterday's trading.
MSCI Asia Pacific outside Japan lost 0.34% to the lowest level since mid-July 2017.
While the Nikkei Index in Japan slumped 0.9%, because the market was worried about the strengthening of the yen and new US import tariff data would also hit products from Japan.
US President Donald Trump's administration ended a period of public hearings last Thursday, related to plans to implement new high tariffs on US $ 200 billion of imported products from China.
Beijing has also warned the US will carry out a counterattack if Trump's policy is implemented.
The market is also worried, the trade war between the two countries with the world's largest economy is heating up. "It seems unlikely that the tariff will not be applied. Because the US believes they can win a trade war and are in a better negotiation position if it puts more pressure on China," JPMorgan said.
Meanwhile, investors will refrain from pouring money on the stock market due to waiting for US employment wages data for the month of December. The expectation is that there is an increase of 191,000 compared to July.