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Asian Equities Fall on Trump Concerns, Terror Attack in Spain

Asian Equities Fall on Trump Concerns, Terror Attack in Spain

(Bloomberg) -- Asian equities fell, paring the week’s gain, after a terror attack in Barcelona added to concerns that U.S. President Donald Trump’s policy plans may be stymied by discord within his administration.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index lost 0.5 percent to 159.04 as of 4:36 p.m. in Hong Kong, set to decline for the first day this week. About three shares retreated for each one that gained, with financial and technology sub-gauges leading the drop. Indexes slid across the region, with Japan’s Topix Index marking its worst weekly performance since June as the yen strengthened, while Singapore’s benchmark was poised for its longest stretch of weekly losses in more than a year.

Action planned to improve trade, tax, infrastructure and jobs, which was at top of Trump’s campaign agenda, has started sounding like "empty promises," said Margaret Yang a strategist at CMC.

Asian Equities Fall on Trump Concerns, Terror Attack in Spain

India’s Infosys Ltd. was the top contributor to the decline in MSCI’s broadest gauge of stocks in Asia Pacific after Vishal Sikka resigned as chief executive officer of Asia’s second-largest software services provider.

Summary

  • Hang Seng Index -1.1%, Hang Seng China Enterprises Index -1%
    • Hong Kong Stocks Follow Global Shares Lower to Pare Weekly Gain
    • HK Tech Stocks Drop on Weak Smartphone Demand, Nasdaq Slide
  • Shanghai Composite Index little changed, Taiwan’s Taiex Index -0.5%
    • Shanghai Composite Climbs 1.9% This Week, Most in Four Months
    • Taiwan Replaces Thailand in Credit Suisse ‘Cheapest Stocks’ Club
  • Kospi -0.1%, Kospi 200 Index -0.2%
    • S. Korean Telecom Stocks Fall as Govt Said to Cut Phone Bills
  • Japan’s Topix Index -1.1%, Nikkei 225 -1.2%
    • Topix Falls for Third Day as Spain Attack, Cohn Rumors Buoy Yen
  • Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index -0.6%, New Zealand’s NZX 50 little changed
  • Singapore’s Straits Times Index -0.3%, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI Index -0.2%, Philippine Stock Exchange PSEi Index -0.7%, Jakarta Composite Index +0.2%, Thailand’s SET Index -0.2%, Vietnam’s VN Index +0.2%
    • STI Posts Longest Losing Streak in a Year as Asia Markets Slide
  • Sensex Index -1.1%, Nifty 50 Index -0.9%

To contact the reporter on this story: Abhishek Vishnoi in Singapore at avishnoi4@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Divya Balji at dbalji1@bloomberg.net, Margo Towie