TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian shares wobbled on Friday as investors braced for U.S. tariffs against China, while the euro flirted with two-week lows after a cautious European Central Bank indicated it would not raise interest rates for some time.
U.S. President Donald Trump has made up his mind to impose “pretty significant” tariffs and will unveil a list targeting $50 billion of Chinese goods on Friday, an administration official said. Beijing has warned that it was ready to respond.
While it is not clear when Trump will activate the measures, rising Sino-U.S. trade tensions will put additional pressure on China’s economy, which is starting to show signs of cooling under the weight of a multi-year crackdown on riskier lending.
The Asia Pacific MSCI index edged down 0.2 percent, with most regional markets shrugging off a strong close on Wall Street. But Japan’s Nikkei average added 0.5 percent.
The euro was headed for its worst weekly loss in 19 months after the ECB signaled on Thursday it will keep interest rates at record lows into at least mid-2019, even as it pledged to end its massive bond purchase scheme by the end of this year.
The common currency shed 1.9 percent after the rate comments in its sharpest daily fall in almost two years.
In early Asian trade on Friday, it eased 0.1 percent lower to $1.15595, its lowest level since May 30.
The dollar index against a basket of six major peers gained about 0.2 percent to a two-week high of 94.973, after rallying more than 1 percent the previous day.
The 10-year German bund yield also fell to 0.424
