TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian stocks fell on Friday after U.S.-China trade talks ended without progress, with the markets braced for a speech by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell for hints on the direction of U.S. monetary policy.
FILE PHOTO: A pedestrian holding an umbrella walks past an electronic board showing the graphs of the recent fluctuations of Japan's Nikkei average outside a brokerage in Tokyo, Japan, January 18, 2016. REUTERS/Yuya Shino/File Photo
U.S. and Chinese officials ended two days of talks on Thursday with no major breakthrough. Meanwhile their trade war escalated with activation of another round of dueling tariffs on $16 billion worth of each country’s goods.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS shed 0.6 percent. It was still up about 0.85 percent on the week.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng .HSI fell 0.8 percent and the Shanghai Composite Index .SSEC dropped 0.65 percent.
Australian stocks rose 0.2 percent, South Korea's KOSPI .KS11 fell 0.35 percent and Japan's Nikkei .N225 climbed 0.3 percent.
“Global risk sentiment remains somewhat jittery ahead of Fed Chair Powell’s speech with U.S.-Sino trade talks failing to yield any immediate progress,” strategists at OCBC Bank wrote.
The S&P 500 .SPX shed 0.17 percent overnight to pull back slightly from a record high scaled midweek, with industrial shares sagging after the United States and China imposed a fresh round of trade tariffs on each other.
Shares of industrial giants Caterpillar Inc (CAT.N) and Boeing Co (BA.N), which have been bellwethers of trade sentiment, were among the biggest drags on the Dow .DJI, which lost about 0.3 percent. Caterpillar shares fell 2.0 percent, and Boeing shares fell 0.7 percent.
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