Asian shares sag as traders fret about dismal global outlook

Shanghai — Shares in Asia slipped on Friday as a deteriorating global economic outlook outweighed further signs of progress in trade talks between China and the US.

After inching higher in early trade, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell as more markets opened across the region, dipping 0.1%.

Chinese blue-chip shares were down 0.1% in late-morning trade after briefly breaking into positive territory.

After surging on Monday on optimism over trade talks, China’s major equity indexes have faltered on investor concerns over slowing domestic growth and on indications that Chinese authorities will resort to a benchmark lending rate cut only as a last resort to boost the economy.

Growth in China’s new home prices fell to a nine-month low in January as broader economic weakness increasingly weighs on the property sector.

Seoul’s Kospi lost 0.3%. Shares in Taiwan were also 0.3% lower.

Japan’s Nikkei was down 0.4% after data showed core consumer inflation accelerated slightly in January but remained far from the central bank’s 2% target, underscoring the fragility of the country’s economic recovery.

Australian shares gained 0.4%.

A combination of trade talks and Federal Reserve caution over further rate hikes has provided support to riskier assets, including equities, in recent sessions, said Rob Carnell, chief economist and head of research, Asia-Pacific at ING.

But with a more dovish Fed and some sort of trade deal already priced in, further developments on trade “haven’t really been having anything like the impact in markets that they would have done a week or a couple weeks or months ago”, he said.

Nevertheless, investors continue to closely watch high-level talks between US and Chinese trade negotiators in Washington, with little more than a week left before a US-imposed deadline for an agreement expires, triggering higher tariffs.

Reuters reported exclusively on Wednesday that the two sides were drafting language for six memorandums of understanding on proposed Chinese reforms, progress that had helped to lift investor sentiment.

Chinese Vice-Premier Liu He will meet US President Donald Trump at the White House on Friday, the White House said.

Amid the trade discussions, new data from the US on Thursday highlighted its economic outlook is also growing cloudy.

The US commerce department said on Thursday that domestic orders for non-defence capital goods excluding aircraft, a closely watched proxy for business spending plans, dropped 0.7%.