European markets were mostly downbeat on Friday afternoon after China announced that it was raising tariffs against the US to 125%, from a previous 84%. This follows the US’ recent decision to impose a 125% tariff against China, on top of the existing 20%.
Britain’s FTSE 100 index was 0.4% higher on Friday afternoon as of around 2 pm CEST, whereas Germany’s DAX index was down 1.6%. France’s CAC 40 index lost 0.4%, with the STOXX 600 falling 0.3%.
Rubis, Fresnillo and EDP saw gains by Friday afternoon, while Getinge B and Zurich Insurance Group and HelloFresh were some of the top losers.
Concerns about whether Trump’s 90-day tariff pause would be enough also intensified, mainly because of the number of countries in line to negotiate a trade deal within this time frame.
Asia-Pacific markets overnight
Asia-Pacific stocks lagged on Thursday, as investor concerns about further tariff retaliations from both the US and China remained.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 closed almost 3% lower on Friday, at 33,585.58.
China’s Shanghai Composite Index was trading 0.5% higher at market close on Friday at 3,238.23.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index, meanwhile, showed gains of 1.6% at around 9:45am CEST on Friday.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 dropped 0.8% to 7,646,50, while South Korea’s Kospi was down 0.5% on Friday.
US markets-closing prices on Thursday
US stocks closed in the red on Thursday, as investors worried about whether the escalating trade war between China and the US could potentially lead to an economic downturn.
The S&P 500 closed 3.5% lower on Thursday, with the Nasdaq 100 index also losing 4.2%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average Index closed 2.5% lower on Thursday as well.
Companies such as CarMax, United Airlines, Microchip and Monolithic saw the biggest falls, whereas Boeing, General Motors and Chevron experienced smaller losses.
Commodities and currencies
In commodities, US crude oil rose around 0.1% to $60.1 per barrel on Friday afternoon, with Brent crude oil also advancing 0.1% to $63.4 per barrel.
On the other hand, gold was up over 0.9% on Friday mid-morning, pulling back slightly from record highs. The precious metal also recorded a 6% gain on a weekly basis.
The EUR/USD pair increased 1.4% on Friday mid-morning, with the EUR/GBP pair rising 0.4% as well.
