Asian investors fight to recover after emerging market rout

HONG KONG (AFP) – Asian equities suffered fresh losses Thursday, extending the previous day’s rout as concerns about contagion from emerging markets fray investor nerves, while sentiment is also being dampened by the possibility of further US tariffs on China.

And while emerging market currencies – which have taken a battering in recent weeks – enjoyed a much-needed breather, there are warnings of further pain to come in foreign exchanges.

Worries that financial crises in Argentina, South Africa and Turkey will spill over into major economies fuelled a bloodletting across Asia on Wednesday, which filtered through to Europe.

“Contagion is a normal reaction,’’ George Boubouras, director at Salter Brothers Asset Management, said on Bloomberg Television. The contagion “will get worse,’’ he warned.

Wall Street ended mixed with the Dow edging up but the Nasdaq took a hit from a sell-off in tech firms as top officials at Facebook and Twitter struggled in congressional testimony and the White House warned of a possible legal crackdown.

Trump “has the tech giants in his sights’’ following his claims of political bias against conservatives, said Greg McKenna, chief market strategist at AxiTrader.

“That’s important for global markets because the only thing between where we are today and a complete rout is the relative stability of US stocks. And we know a big chunk of the S&P’s rally has been the performance of tech stocks whose rally has been going increasingly vertical.’’

In equity trading, Tokyo ended 0.4 percent lower, while Hong Kong shed 1.3 percent after diving 2.6 percent Wednesday. Sydney fell 0.4 percent and Wellington lost 1.4 percent.

Shanghai lost 0.5 percent, Seoul sank 0.2 percent and Singapore was 0.3 percent off.

Hong Kong stocks suffered fresh losses in the first few minutes Thursday as emerging market fears build and investors grow concerned the US will impose further sanctions on Chinese imports.

The Hang Seng Index shed 0.64 percent, or 174.64 points, to 27,069.21.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index gave up 0.25 percent, or 6.76 points, to 2,697.58, while the Shenzhen Composite Index, which tracks stocks on China’s second exchange, lost 0.38 percent, or 5.47 points, to 1,436.78.

Manila plunged more than two percent but Jakarta, which lost more than three percent Wednesday, was 0.6 percent higher.

On currency markets, the Indonesian rupiah edged up after hitting its lowest level since the Asian financial crisis 20 years ago though it skirted the 15,000to-the-dollar mark. The Mexican peso also posted gains but the South African rand was flat after paring an early rally.

McKenna warned that pressure remains on traders and said “any hiatus in the forex universe is just a little calm in an enduring storm.’’

While the emerging market sell-off is in focus, Donald Trump’s trade rows continue to play out, with a public consultation on his threatened tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods ending Thursday night.

Investors are keeping a nervous eye on Washington after the president said last month he wanted to impose the levies as soon as the deadline had passed. There was no news of the US implementing the measures in the early hours of Friday.

And talks between Washington and Ottawa on the revised North American Free Trade Agreement are continuing, with Canada’s Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland saying the two are making “good progress.’’