Stocks decline in Asia as Trump rattles nerves

Sydney - Asian stocks built on losses seen in the US equities session, ending a tough week for risk assets that’s rekindled concerns about what a potential trade war and a more hawkish Federal Reserve could do to global economic growth.

The dollar extended losses and the yen gained.

Japan bore the brunt of declines, with the Nikkei 225 Stock Average breaking below its average level over the past 200 days and extending losses from its January peak to 13%.

Shares in Hong Kong, China, Australia and South Korea were also weaker after US stocks posted a third day of declines.

US President Donald Trump promised to impose substantial tariffs on foreign metals and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said Europe will respond "firmly" to any new tariffs. Treasuries steadied on Friday.

"We’re entering a period of turbulence," Sebastien Page, head of asset allocation at T. Rowe Price, told Bloomberg TV from Baltimore. "So at the margin we are taking away from equities, adding both bonds and cash.

The Cboe Volatility Index is up 35% this week as Fed chair Jerome Powell opened the door to speculation that the central bank may quicken the pace of monetary tightening, a move investors worry could derail economic growth.

In his Senate testimony on Thursday, he called for gradual interest rate hikes and said the economy wasn’t overheating.

Elsewhere, oil steadied after sliding on Thursday on concerns about increasing US crude production. Bitcoin held near $11 000 on course to post a 10% increase this week.

Here are some key events scheduled for the remainder of this week:

Bank of England Governor Mark Carney speech for the inaugural Scottish Economics Conference. UK Prime Minister Theresa May delivers a speech on Friday on Britain’s relationship with the European Union.

China’s annual national legislative meetings start Saturday and are set to run over two-plus weeks. Italy goes to the polls on Sunday. Read more on how Italian bond spreads could widen substantially should a euroskeptic alliance come to power.

These are the main moves in markets:

Stocks

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 0.9% as of 1:51pm Tokyo time. Topix index fell 1.7%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 1.5%. Kospi index fell 0.9%.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index fell 0.7%. Futures on the S&P 500 Index fell 0.1%.

Currencies

The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.1%. The Japanese yen rose 0.1% to 106.10 per dollar. The euro rose 0.1% to $1.2281. The Australian dollar rose less than 0.05% to 0.776 per dollar.

Bonds

The yield on 10-year Treasuries was unchanged at 2.81%. Japan’s 10-year yield rose less than one basis point to 0.047%. Australia’s 10-year yield fell one basis point to 2.743%.

Commodities

West Texas Intermediate crude rose less than 0.05% to $61.01 a barrel. Gold fell less than 0.05% to $1 316.99 an ounce. LME copper rose 0.2% to $6 934.50 per metric tonne.