Asian stocks lower ahead of G-20 summit


FE Team | Published: June 25, 2019 11:59:40 | Updated: June 27, 2019 14:05:22


File Photo (Collected)

Asian shares were mostly lower on Tuesday as traders looked ahead to a meeting between the American and Chinese presidents amid hopes for renewed trade talks.

Benchmarks in Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong declined. Seoul and Sydney were little-changed.

The Shanghai Composite Index lost 1.1 per cent to 2,974.69 and Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 shed 0.2 per cent to 21,241.28. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng retreated 0.9 per cent to 28,268.14.

Seoul’s Kospi added one point to 2,128.00 while Sydney’s S&P-ASX 200 gained three points to 6,667.40. Taiwan also declined while markets in Southeast Asia and New Zealand advanced, reports AP.

On Wall Street, smaller company stocks had their worst day since May, helping to erase some of last week’s gains after the benchmark S&P 500 index closed at an all-time high.

The S&P 500 index slipped 0.2 per cent to 2,945.35. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose less than 0.1 per cent to 26,727.54. The Nasdaq composite dropped 0.3 per cent to 8,005.70.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies slid 1.3 per cent to 1,530.08, its biggest single-day loss since May 31.

Benchmark US crude fell 50 cents to $57.40 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract gained 47 cents on Monday to close at $57.90.

Brent crude, used to price international oils, lost 51 cents to $63.67 per barrel in London. It shed 27 cents the previous session to $64.18.

The dollar declined to 107.05 yen from Monday’s 107.29 yen. The euro edged up to $1.1403 from $1.1400.

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