Asian stock markets mostly finished with losses Wednesday, as the region’s technology stocks tracked weakness in U.S. markets that was triggered by ongoing trade tensions.
The Shanghai Composite SHCOMP, -0.15% closed down 1%, while the tech-heavy China Shenzhen ChiNext Composite 399106, -0.58% tumbled 2.6%. Those move came after tech stocks helped drive a selloff for Wall Street on Tuesday, led by Micron Technology Inc. MU, -5.51% tumbling 5.5% on news it was temporarily blocked from selling some of its memory chips in China. U.S. markets will be closed in observance of the Independence Day holiday on Wednesday.
The Micron block by China came a day after the U.S. cited national security concerns in moving to prevent China Mobile CHL, -0.70% 0941, -0.07% —the world’s biggest mobile operator in terms of subscribers—from entering its telecom market.
Trade tensions show no signs of easing this week, with the Trump administration’s plan to impose tariffs on up to $50 billion worth of Chinese products due to kick in Friday. China has said its own tariffs on $34 billion of U.S. goods will take effect on Friday as well, though several hours earlier due to time-zone differences, according to a Reuters report Wednesday.
In other market action on Wednesday, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index HSI, -0.30% fell 1.1%, while Japan’s Nikkei NIK, -0.15% and Korea’s Kospi SEU, -0.04% each eased 0.3%. Taiwan stocks Y9999, -0.32% finished roughly flat.
The Chinese yuan CNYUSD, -0.0422% was trading higher against the dollar on Wednesday, continuing a recovery that began the previous afternoon after China’s central bank chief pledged to keep the exchange rate “basically stable.” The buck USDCNY, +0.0422% was recently buying 6.6321 yuan, down from 6.6420 late Tuesday in New York.
New Zealand’s NZX 50 NZ50GR, +0.01% closed down 0.3%, while Australia’s XJO, +0.42% main index shed 0.4%.