Yahoo Finance Asian Stocks Fall as China, North Korea Issue Warnings to Trump
Investing.com - Asian stocks traded lower in morning trade on Wednesday after China and North Korea issued warnings to U.S. President Donald Trump.
The People’s Daily, China’s state-owned newspaper, said on Wednesday that Beijing “has not given in, is not giving in, and will never give in” in matters related to core national interests.
China and U.S. are currently in discussions to negotiate a deal to end their trade disputes. Trump noted earlier that talks are “progressing well.”
However, "regardless of the development of Sino-U.S. relations, China's strategic choice to deepen reform and opening is unswerving, and we are committed to doing our own thing", the People’s Daily said.
The news came one day after Chinese President Xi Jinping called for cooperation with the United States.
The Shanghai Composite was down 1.0% by 8:52 PM ET (01:52 GMT). It ended the 2018 trading year at 2,493.90, approximately 24.6% lower than its final close of 2017. The Shenzhen Compositeslipped 0.7%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index plunged nearly 2.7%. It notched a decline of 13.6% for 2018.
Meanwhile, South Korea’s KOSPI fell 0.8%. North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un warned that he would take a “new path” in nuclear talks if the U.S. didn’t relax economic sanctions.
“I am willing to sit with the U.S. president any time in the future and will strive to produce outcomes that would be welcomed by the international community,” said Kim.
“However, if the United States does not deliver its promise and misjudge our people’s patience, making unilateral demands to continue sanctions and put pressure on us, we will have no choice but to seek a new path to protect the country’s independence, interests and peace on the Korean Peninsula,” he added.
Down under, Australia’s ASX 200 traded 1.1% lower.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 is closed for a holiday.
In other news, Trump invited the top congressional leaders from both parties to a White House briefing and suggested he is willing to make a deal to end a government shutdown.
“Border Security and the Wall “thing” and Shutdown is not where Nancy Pelosi wanted to start her tenure as Speaker! Let’s make a deal?,” the President said on twitter.
Parts of the government have now been shut for 11 days, affecting 9 of the 15 federal departments, dozens of agencies, and hundreds of thousands of workers, according to reports.
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