HSI Ends With A Loss As Traders Remain Jittery

Hong Kong shares ended down on Friday as investors took a step back after a bargain-hunting push fed by heavy losses due to escalating trade war tensions.

The Hang Seng Index shed 0.7 percent, to 25,939.

On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.7 percent, to 2,774 while the Shenzhen Composite Index closed 1.3 percent, at 1,479.

Tokyo managed to hold on to its winnings as positive data helped drive the Nikkei up 0.4 percent, after figures showed the world's third-biggest economy was growing faster than analysts had predicted.

Manila, Singapore and Bangkok were also down, but Sydney edged up 0.3 percent and Seoul climbed 0.9 percent.

Safe-haven assets such as bonds, gold and the yen remained in demand, signalling that trade war fears were continuing to weigh on markets.

Interest rate cuts by central banks in India, Thailand and New Zealand this week underscored investor anxiety, with analysts saying markets believe further cuts are in the offing.

"The current market dynamics are such that the stabilisation of risk assets will remain a function of improvement on the trade front or the Fed turning increasingly more dovish," said Stephen Innes at VM Markets.

"With a near term trade agreement little more (than) wishful thinking at this stage the markets will lean on the dovish Fed narrative again as a critical circuit breaker to diffuse the markets' stress overload from escalating trade and currency war tensions." (AFP)