HONG KONG: Fresh trade worries and uncertainty about the Federal Reserve's plans for cutting interest rates weighed on Asian markets on Wednesday while fears of a hard Brexit kept the pound wallowing at more than two-year lows.
The possibility of rates staying slightly elevated boosted the dollar against the yen, euro and pound on Tuesday and held up in early trade Wednesday. Regional equity markets were also in the red, with confidence jolted by comments from Donald Trump that revived trade tensions with China.Hong Kong, Shanghai and Tokyo were all well down, while there were also losses in Taipei, Manila and Jakarta with Seoul off 0.9 per cent as South Korea's trade stand-off with Japan drags on.In early European trade, London and Paris fell 0.1 per cent and Frankfurt dipped 0.2 per cent.
There had been hopes of some sort of progress after Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping agreed at the G20 last month to restart talks.