Australia, New South Wales, Sydney
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Asia-Pacific markets mostly fell on Friday as U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff threats kept investors on edge.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 lost 2.09%, sinking to its lowest in two weeks, data from FactSet showed, while the Topix fell 2.19%. South Korea’s Kospi traded 1.76% lower and the small-cap Kosdaq dipped 1.44%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index slid 0.41% while mainland China’s CSI 300 dipped 0.25%.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 added 0.36% as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced a national election on May 3, kicking off a five-week campaign.
Investors will continue eyeing shares of automakers after they declined on Thursday following Trump’s announcement of 25% tariffs on “all cars that are not made in the United States.”
The president’s comments this week regarding the upcoming April 2 tariffs, however, have eased some concerns for investors. Recently, Trump mentioned that the tariffs would be “very lenient” and expressed a willingness to lower tariffs on China to facilitate a deal with ByteDance’s TikTok.
On Thursday, he also used tariffs as a bargaining tool, warning that he could impose “far larger” duties on the European Union and Canada, if they join forces to oppose the levies.
U.S. stock futures were little changed as investors grappled with ongoing tariff uncertainty.
Overnight in the U.S., the three major averages closed lower. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 155.09 points, or 0.37%, to end at 42,299.70. The S&P 500 declined 0.33% to close at 5,693.31, and the Nasdaq Composite slid 0.53% to settle at 17,804.03.
CNBC’s Pia Singh and Brian Evans contributed to this report.
