CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - Asian stocks followed Wall Street lower on Wednesday as the U.S. threatened to slap tariffs on goods from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) cut its global growth forecast to the lowest level since the financial crisis, citing heightened trade tensions.
Safe-haven assets such as the Japanese yen and gold were in demand as investors awaited the start of the U.S. corporate earnings season, with financial giants JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and Wells Fargo (WFC) due to report their quarterly results on Friday.
American inflation data, the release of Fed's March meeting minutes, a crucial Brexit summit and the ECB policy meeting also remained on investors' radar.
Japan's Nikkei index was down 0.7 percent, hit by a stronger yen as tensions over tariffs between the United States and Europe escalated, with a European Commission spokesman slamming 'exaggerated' U.S .tariff threat and pledging to retaliate against any new U.S. tariffs.
China's Shanghai Composite index was down 0.8 percent after the IMF warned of more subdued momentum next year. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was down about half a percent.
Australia's benchmark S&P/ASX 200 was rising 0.2 percent, led by banks and gold miners. South Korea's Kospi was declining 0.2 percent while New Zealand's benchmark NZX-50 index was losing 0.6 percent.
Overnight, U.S. stocks fell after President Trump threatened tariffs on European goods and the IMF cut its global growth forecast.
The Dow dropped 0.7 percent while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite and the S&P 500 shed around 0.6 percent.
European markets ended lower on Tuesday after the U.S. said it is considering imposition of tariffs on European Union goods as retaliation for European aircraft subsidies.
The pan European Stoxx 600 gave up half a percent. The German DAX fell 0.9 percent, France's CAC 40 index declined 0.7 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 eased 0.4 percent.
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