SYDNEY (Reuters) - Asian shares slipped to a 14-month trough on Friday as investors feared a new round of Sino-U.S. tariffs could come at any moment, while a slump in U.S. chip stocks rippled through the tech sector.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan lost 0.34 percent to reach its lowest since mid-July last year.
The Nikkei fell 0.9 percent, undermined by a rising yen and reports U.S. President Donald Trump could be contemplating taking on Japan over trade.
Nerves were already frayed as the public comment period for proposed tariffs on an additional $200 billion worth of Chinese imports ends at 0400 GMT, and the tariffs could go into effect shortly afterward.
China has warned of retaliation if Washington implements any new measures.
“It seems unlikely the tariffs are not implemented as the U.S. administration believes that they are winning the trade war and will be in a stronger position to negotiate if they put more pressure on China,” JPMorgan analysts wrote in a note.
“The tech sector was also very weak overnight, with a slide in Micron of almost 10 percent and further weakness in the Chinese Internet ADRs.”
Wall Street saw sharp losses in chipmakers and concerns about increased regulation of social media companies. [.N]
The S&P 500 lost 0.37 percent and the Nasdaq 0.91 percent, while the Dow eked out a 0.08 percent gain.
WATCHING WAGES
Eyes were now turned to the U.S. payrolls report for August which is expected to show a robust rise of 191,000, in part as July was
