Investing.com - Asian markets fell in morning trade on Thursday as traders digested the latest developments in the increasingly unpredictable Sino-U.S. trade war.
China’s Shanghai Composite and the Shenzhen Component were down 0.3% and 0.5% respectively by 10:40 PM ET (02:40 GMT). Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index traded 0.4% lower.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he thinks Chinese negotiators will visit Washington for trade talks, but he declined to confirm whether a previously planned meeting in September would still take place.
“We continue to have conversations. We’re planning for them to come,” Mnuchin said Wednesday, adding that he has been in contact with Yi Gang, the governor of the People’s Bank of China, over what the U.S. has deemed manipulation of the yuan.
“We’ve had conversations with the IMF and directly with our counterparts in China, including the governor of the PBOC,” Mnuchin said. “We will have a separate dialog and discussion on currency as part of the trade discussion but separate from the trade discussion.”
Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropped 0.5%.
South Korea’s KOSPI was down 0.2%. The Bank of Korea’s policy decision and briefing will be out on Friday.
Down under, Australia’s ASX 200 slipped 0.1%.
On the data front, a second reading of Q2 U.S. GDP that is due on Friday, and the Euro-zone CPI data for August, also due on the same day, are expected to receive some attention.