Asia report: Most markets lower as China-US trade talks wrap up

Markets in Asia finished Friday’s session in the red, as investors kept watch on the second day of trade negotiations between the US and China in Beijing.

In Japan, markets were closed for a second day on Friday, giving traders the opportunity to enjoy a four-day weekend, as the yen strengthened 0.18% on the dollar to last trade at JPY 108.99.

On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite was down 0.32% at 3,091.03, and the smaller, technology-heavy Shenzhen Composite slipped 0.21% to 1,789.07.

South Korea’s Kospi lost 1.04% to 2,461.38, while the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong was 1.28% lower at 29,926.50.

Carmakers and technology plays led the losses in Seoul, with bourse giant Samsung Electronics falling 2.08% after returning from a trading halt.

HSBC shares sank in Hong Kong after the bank reported a 4% fall in profit before tax in its first quarter.

In Beijing, US Treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin said on Friday that “very good conversations” had been taking place as negotiations continued.

Friday - the second day of the talks - was likely to be the final day as well.

The discussions were taking place between delegations led by Mnuchin and China’s vice-Premier Liu He, and were understood to be covering a number of complaints Washington has raised about China’s trade practices.

Those included state subsidies for technology development and US accusations of forced transfers of technology, but market watchers were not picking anything substantive to come from the talks.

“Substantive progress on intellectual property protections and cutting the US goods/trade deficit with China by a fixed amount seem some way off, or unlikely,” noted analysts at ANZ.

Oil prices were higher, with Brent crude last up 0.47% at $73.97 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate adding 0.51% to $68.78.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 slid 0.58% to 6,062.90, led lower by the hefty financials subindex.

Macquarie Group went against its peers in the sector, eking out gains of 0.24% after reporting full-year net profit of AUD 2.56bn.

Across the Tasman Sea, the S&P/NZX 50 was up 0.03%, led higher once again by dairy products and infant food exporter A2 Milk, which was ahead 2.4% to reach a new four-week high.

It had spent much of April on the back foot as Swiss dairy giant Nestle launched its own infant formula based on the so-called ‘A2 protein’ - A2 Milk’s unique selling point - into the lucrative Chinese market.

Both of the down under dollars were weaker on the greenback, with the Aussie last off 0.19% at AUD 1.3301 and the Kiwi retreating 0.43% to NZD 1.4262.