Global markets tumble

new york- Shares slipped in Asia on Friday as tensions flared between the U.S. and China and as more job losses compounded the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng sank more than five per cent on Friday after legislation that could limit opposition activity in the former British colony was presented to China’s ceremonial parliament.

Shanghai’s Composite index fell 1.6 per cent, to 2,820.87 despite a promise by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, the top economic official, to provide 2 trillion yuan ($280 billion), among other stimulus measures, to help revive the country’s economy and curb job losses from the pandemic.

“Traders around the world are playing the waiting game to see details of the new Hong Kong law to gauge how severe the terms are,”Stephen Innes, analyst at AxiCorp said in a commentary.

Wall Street stocks pulled back early Friday ahead of a long holiday weekend. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.5 per cent while the broad-based S& 500 fell 0.3 per cent and the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index shed 0.1 per cent by mid-day trading.

The very real threat now is the return of mass protests to the streets of Hong Kong, a downgrade in trade status with the US and potentially an exit of large companies

Jeffrey Halley, analyst at Oanda

Traders around the world are playing the waiting game to see details of the new Hong Kong law to gauge how severe the terms are

Stephen Innes, analyst at AxiCorp

More specifically, Stephen Innes said, will be the US response to the possible impact on Hong Kong’s special economic status. Under the terms of Britain’s handover of control of the territory to Beijing, the city kept its own trade regime and finances and a legal system based on western-style civil liberties that are denied to people living in other parts of China.In Europe, London, Frankfurt and Paris fell modestly by recent standards of volatility, there were slights gains for Milan and Madrid. Britain’s FTSE 100 skidded 0.8 per cent, Germany’s DAX shed 0.3 per cent to 11,02 and the CAC 40 in Paris lost 0.2 per cent.

In other regional markets, Japan’s Nikkei 225 index fell 0.8% to 20,388.16 and the Kospi in South Korea lost 1.4 per cent to 1,970.13. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 declined one per cent to 5,497.00.

India’s Sensex declined despite a cut in the benchmark interest rate to four per cent, the lowest level in a decade. The BSE Sensex closed at 30,672.59, lower by 260.31 or 0.84 per cent from the previous close of 30,932.90. The

Nifty50 on the National Stock Exchange closed at 9,039.25, lower by 67 points or 0.74 per cent from the previous close. Oil prices fell back on Friday, with benchmark US crude losing $1.72, or five per cent, to $32.20 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

July Brent crude oil, the international standard, declined $1.61 to $34.45 per barrel. China’s yuan finished domestic trading at a more than 8-1/2-month low on Friday. The spot yuan ended its onshore session at 7.1416 per dollar, the weakest such close since September 5, 2019.

The euro slipped 0.4 per cent against a broadly stronger dollar to $1.0906; the dollar index rose 0.3 per cent to 99.740. —