CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - Asian stock markets are trading mostly lower on Monday, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street and Europe on Friday, on renewed trade and tariff concerns after US President Donald Trump threatened to impose 50 percent tariffs on imports from the European Union beginning June 1. However, Trump agreed to delay a sweeping 50 percent tariff on EU imports until July 9 over the weekend. Asian markets closed mixed on Friday.
Trade concerns had waned considerably in recent weeks after the U.S. reached trade deals with the U.K. and China. Trump claimed in a post on Truth Social that the EU has 'been very difficult to deal with' and said trade talks with the bloc are 'going nowhere!'
The Australian stock market is slightly lower in choppy trading on Monday after opening in the green, reversing some of the gains in the previous session, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street on Friday. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index is staying near the 8,350.00 level, with a mixed performance across most sectors. Gold miners were the only bright spot
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 10.80 points or 0.13 percent to 8,350.10, after hitting a low of 8,348.70 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 7.80 points or 0.09 percent to 8,578.90. Australian stocks closed modestly higher on Friday.
Among the major miners, BHP Group and Fortescue Metals are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Mineral Resources is adding more than 1 percent. Rio Tinto is edging down 0.1 percent.
Oil stocks are mixed. Woodside Energy is edging down 0.2 percent and Origin Energy is declining almost 4 percent, while Santos and Beach energy are edging up 0.3 to 0.4 percent each.
Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is edging up 0.4 percent and WiseTech Global is gaining more than 3 percent, while Zip is losing more than 1 percent and Xero is edging down 0.4 percent. Appen is flat.
Gold miners are mostly higher. Evolution Mining is gaining more than 2 percent, Resolute Mining is up almost 1 percent, Northern Star Resources is adding more than 1 percent and Newmont is edging up 0.2 percent, while Gold Road Resources is edging down 0.2 percent.
Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank is edging down 0.2 percent, while National Australia Bank, ANZ Banking and Westpac are losing almost 1 percent each.
In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.653 on Monday.
The Japanese stock market is trading notably higher on Monday, extending the gains in the previous session, despite the broadly negative cues from Wall Street on Friday, with the Nikkei 225 moving above the 37,300 level, with gains in index heavyweights, automakers and technology stocks.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index closed the morning session at 37,329.22, up 168.75 points or 0.45 percent, after touching a high of 37,493.97 earlier. Japanese shares ended notably higher on Friday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining more than 1 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging up 0.2 percent. Among automakers, Honda is edging up 0.4 percent and Toyota is edging up 0.3 percent.
In the tech space, Advantest is gaining almost 2 percent, Tokyo Electron is adding more than 2 percent and Screen Holdings is edging up 0.2 percent.
In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Mizuho Financial are edging up 0.1 to 0.2 percent each, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is edging down 0.3 percent.
The major exporters are mixed. Panasonic is losing more than 1 percent and Canon is edging down 0.3 to 0.4 percent, while Mitsubishi Electric is edging up 0.1 percent and Sony is gaining almost 1 percent.
Among the other major gainers, Nippon Steel is surging almost 5 percent, while Keisei Electric Railway, CyberAgent and Lasertec are gaining more than 3 percent each. Kawasaki Heavy Industries, JFE Holdings and Fuji Electric are adding almost 3 percent each.
Conversely, there are no other major losers
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 142 yen-range on Monday.
Elsewhere in Asia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and Taiwan are lower by between 0.1 and 0.4 percent each, while China and South Korea are up 0.3 and 1.0 percent, respectively.
On Wall Street, stocks moved sharply lower in early trading on Friday but regained some ground over the course of the session. While the major averages climbed well off their worst levels of the day, they still closed firmly in negative territory.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq tumbled as much as 1.7 percent early in the session before ending the day down 188.53 points or 1.0 percent at 18,737.21. The S&P 500 also slid 39.19 points or 0.7 percent to 5,802.82 and the Dow fell 256.02 points or 0.6 percent at 41,603.07
The major European have all also moved to the downside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index dipped 0.2 percent, the German DAX Index slumped by 1.5 percent and the French CAC 40 Index tumbled by 1.7 percent.
Crude oil prices ticked higher on Friday but still fell for the week amid reports of another production increase by OPEC for July. West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery climbed $0.34 or 0.6 percent to $61.54 a barrel. For the week, crude fell 1.5 percent.
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