TOKYO (Reuters) - Stock markets in Asia tracked their global peers lower while the safe-haven dollar hovered near a two-week high on Wednesday as heightened worries over international trade conflicts curbed investor appetite for riskier assets.
FILE PHOTO: People walk past an electronic board showing Japan's Nikkei average outside a brokerage at a business district in Tokyo, Japan August 9, 2017. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon/File Photo
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS was down 0.5 percent.
The Shanghai Composite Index .SSEC retreated 0.4 percent.
Australian stocks lost 0.75 percent, South Korea's KOSPI .KS11 dropped 0.1 percent and Japan's Nikkei .N225 shed 0.35 percent.
U.S. stocks had slipped on Tuesday as a drop in heavyweights Facebook (FB.O) and Nike (NKE.N) added to worries over trade negotiations between the United States and other major economies.
MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe .MIWD00000PUS shed about 0.5 percent the previous day.
“The U.S.-Canada talks are due to resume today and this keeps trade issues at the forefront, with a wait-and-see mood prevailing in the equity markets,” said Masahiro Ichikawa, senior strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Asset Management in Tokyo.
Discussions between the United States and Canada were expected to resume on Wednesday after the last round ended on Friday with no deal to revamp the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), cooling investor confidence.
“Then there is the U.S.-China trade issue, in addition to turbulence in the emerging market currencies that the markets have to worry about,” Ichikawa at Sumitomo Mitsui Asset Management said.
Keeping investors nervous is the threat of fresh U.S tariffs on another $200 billion worth of Chinese goods that could take effect after a public comment period ends on Thursday.
