<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most Asian stock markets<\/strong> extended losses on Thursday<\/strong>, dragged down by renewed U.S.\u2013China trade tensions<\/strong> and profit-taking following recent rallies in Japan and South Korea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By mid-morning<\/strong>, Japan\u2019s Nikkei 225<\/strong> had fallen 1.5%<\/strong>, while China\u2019s CSI 300<\/strong> dropped 0.6%<\/strong> and the Shanghai Composite<\/strong> slipped 0.7%<\/strong>, leading the regional downturn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sentiment soured after reports that Washington<\/strong> was preparing new restrictions on high-tech exports<\/strong> to China\u2014including laptops, jet engines, and other software-powered goods<\/strong>\u2014in response to Beijing\u2019s rare earth export curbs<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While the measures are still under discussion, the report signaled a hardening U.S. stance ahead of a potential Trump\u2013Xi meeting<\/strong>. President Donald Trump<\/strong> has said he remains hopeful for a \u201cfair trade deal,\u201d but also admitted the meeting \u201cmay not happen.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The escalation underscored the fragile state of U.S.\u2013China relations<\/strong>, dampening risk appetite across global markets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hong Kong\u2019s Hang Seng Index<\/strong> edged 0.2% lower<\/strong>, with the TECH sub-index<\/strong> sliding 0.8%<\/strong>, pressured by declines in major Chinese tech names.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Japanese equities led regional declines as investors booked profits after the Nikkei 225<\/strong> reached record highs earlier this week. The broader TOPIX<\/strong> index slipped 0.5%<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Optimism had surged following the appointment of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi<\/strong>, who is preparing a large-scale economic stimulus package<\/strong> expected to exceed last year\u2019s \u00a513.9 trillion<\/strong> plan. The package aims to curb inflation and bolster household spending, but analysts cautioned that recent gains may have run ahead of fundamentals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n South Korea\u2019s KOSPI<\/strong> reversed early gains to fall 1%<\/strong>, having briefly touched a record 3,895.09<\/strong> points earlier in the session.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Bank of Korea (BoK)<\/strong> kept its key interest rate unchanged at 2.5%<\/strong> for a third straight meeting but signaled a possible rate cut within three months<\/strong>. While the decision was expected, comments hinting at future easing spurred some risk-off moves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Markets in Australia<\/strong> and Singapore<\/strong> were little changed, while India\u2019s Nifty 50<\/strong> rose 0.7%<\/strong>, diverging from the regional downtrend amid optimism over domestic economic resilience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Investors across Asia remained cautious ahead of U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI)<\/strong> data due Friday<\/strong>, which will be key to shaping expectations for the Federal Reserve\u2019s policy meeting next week<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Markets currently anticipate a rate cut<\/strong>, but uncertainty over trade tensions<\/strong> and the U.S. government shutdown<\/strong> continues to weigh on global risk sentiment, keeping Asian equities under pressure in the near term.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Most Asian stock markets extended losses on Thursday, dragged down by renewed U.S.\u2013China trade tensions and profit-taking following recent rallies in Japan and South Korea. By mid-morning, Japan\u2019s Nikkei 225 had fallen 1.5%, while China\u2019s CSI 300 dropped 0.6% and the Shanghai Composite slipped 0.7%, leading the regional downturn. U.S. Trade Measures Reignite Market Caution …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":31994,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6827,49,39,36],"tags":[6849,6851],"class_list":["post-120247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-daily-economic-reports","category-economic-reports","category-global-stock-markets","category-market-updates","tag-asia","tag-stocks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120247"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120247\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":120248,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120247\/revisions\/120248"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31994"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\n\n\nU.S. Trade Measures Reignite Market Caution<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nJapan: Profit-Taking Follows Record Highs<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nSouth Korea: KOSPI Retreats After Record Peak<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nMixed Performance Elsewhere<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nLooking Ahead: U.S. Inflation Data in Focus<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n