TOKYO - Asian stocks struggled for traction on Wednesday, as relief over Washington’s temporary relaxation of curbs against China’s Huawei Technologies failed to offset deeper worries about an intensifying trade war between the world’s two largest economies.
The Chinese markets, which have endured a volatile few months, were on a cautious note. The Shanghai Composite Index was last a fraction lower.MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan moved in and out of the red and was last 0.1% higher. But in yet another sign of a deepening divide between the world’s two biggest economies, the New York Times reported on Tuesday that the United States could place limits on Chinese video surveillance firm Hikvision’s ability to buy U.S. technology.
The dollar traded at 110.460 yen after popping up to a two-week high of 110.675 against the safe-haven Japanese currency overnight as U.S. yields rose in the wake of gains by Wall Street shares. [US/]The pound was steady at $1.2712. Sterling had sunk to a four-month low of $1.2685 on Tuesday on Brexit worries but bounced back after British Prime Minister Theresa May proposed a “new” Brexit deal.
Huawei is in another business when the phone business failed.