Investing.com – Asian equities were mostly lower in morning trade on Tuesday as the U.S. technology shares selloff sapped investors' confidence while fears of a full blown traded escalated after China slapped new tariffs on U.S. goods.
Technology shares fell following news that U.S. president Trump continued to attack Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) over pricing of its delivery policies through the United States Postal Service. Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) received some residual focus as Zuckerberg said it would take years to solve issues. "I think we will dig through this hole, but it will take a few years," Zuckerberg said in an interview with VOX. "I wish I could solve all these issues in three months or six months, but I just think the reality is that solving some of these questions is just going to take a longer period of time."
Meanwhile, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) said it is planning to move from Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) for Mac computer chips starting from 2020, while Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) plunged 5.1% after the company was reportedly making 2,000 of its Model 3s per week, compared to the 2,500 target.
Overnight, the Nasdaq fell 2.7%, while the S&P 500 and the Dow traded 2.2% and 1.9% lower respectively.
Trade war tensions intensified after China announced it would impose retaliatory tariffs on 128 U.S. products including pork and fruit. A U.S. manufacturing activity report for March showed new orders slowed amid fear of a full-blown trade war between China and the U.S.
In China, the Shanghai Composite opened 1.1% lower by 9:45PM ET (01:45GMT) while the SZSE Component was down 0.3%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index slipped 0.5% in morning trade. Index heavyweight Tencent lost 1.1%.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 slid 0.8%, with the strengthening yen cited as headwind. Reports that US President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe would meet in Florida in April caught some attention. Japan, one of U.S. closest allies, was not granted exemptions to the steel and aluminum tariffs.
Down under, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was unchanged at 5,737.4 as investors await RBA’s policy decision later in the day. The central bank is expected to keep benchmark lending rates unchanged at 1.5%.