Asia markets drop as investors watch trade talks

Youkyung Lee, The Associated Press</span>
Published Friday, May 4, 2018 12:48AM EDT

SEOUL, Korea, Republic Of - Asian stock markets were lower on Friday after Wall Street finished with losses overnight as investors watched the outcome of trade talks between the United States and China.

KEEPING SCORE: South Korea's Kospi fell 0.7 per cent to 2,470.24 while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index lost 0.7 per cent to 30,111.88. Shanghai Composite Index retreated 0.3 per cent to 3,092.27. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 dropped 0.5 per cent to 6,068.60. Japan was closed for a public holiday. Stocks in Taiwan, Singapore and Indonesia were lower.

TRADE TALKS: U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the U.S. is having good discussions in trade talks in China ahead of a second day of meeting aimed at easing tensions. The dispute has deepened as China has stepped up efforts to overtake Western industry leaders in advanced technologies, especially for semiconductors. Analysts say chances for a breakthrough from the two-day meeting appear slim given the two sides' intensifying rivalry in strategic technologies, where China lags behind the U.S.

ANALYST'S TAKE: "The U.S.-China trade meeting, which remains underway, would be another item packing risks ahead," said Jingyi Pan, a market strategist at IG in Singapore.

WALL STREET: U.S. stocks finished lower on Thursday. The S&P 500 index slid 0.2 per cent to 2,629.73. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 5.17 points, or less than 0.1 per cent, to 23,390.15. The Nasdaq composite lost 0.2 per cent to 7,088.15. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks fell 0.5 per cent to 1,546.56.

OIL: Benchmark U.S. crude lost 1 cent to $68.42 per barrel on New York Mercantile Exchange. It rose 0.7 per cent to $68.43 barrel in the previous session. Brent crude, the international standard, dipped 2 cents to $73.60 per barrel in London. On Thursday, it rose 0.4 per cent to $73.62 a barrel.

CURRENCIES: The dollar fell to 108.96 yen from 109.21 yen. The euro rose to $1.1993 from $1.1989.

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