Asian Shares Mostly Lower Amid Trade Tensions

(RTTNews) - Asian stocks ended mostly lower on Tuesday as Sino-U.S. trade tensions simmered and the U.S. government shutdown entered its 13th day, with Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson predicting that the federal government shutdown may become the longest in history.

Markets also braced for earnings from Wall Street's biggest banks and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's keynote speech on the U.S. economic outlook and monetary policy.

Chinese and Hong Kong markets fell as the United States and China launched a new round of retaliatory measures by imposing mutual port fees on each other's shipping firms, escalating trading war and impacting global maritime industry.

After U.S. President Donald Trump expressed shock at China's "surprising" move to unleash sweeping export controls on rare earths and accused the country of "becoming very hostile", Beijing said it was Washington's expansion of curbs on Chinese firms that ratcheted up tensions.

China's Shanghai Composite index dipped 0.62 percent to 3,865.23 while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index tumbled 1.73 percent to 25,441.35.

Japanese markets led regional losses after the coalition government collapsed, threatening Sanae Takaichi's ascent to prime minister.

The Nikkei average slumped 2.58 percent to 46,847.32 as the fluid political situation complicated the outlook for fiscal policy. The broader Topix index settled 1.99 percent lower at 3,133.99.

Among the prominent decliners, SoftBank Group, Chugai Pharma and Furukawa Electric lost 6-7 percent.

Seoul stocks gave up early gains to end lower as U.S.-China trade tensions escalated. The Kospi average fell 0.63 percent to 3,561.81.

Samsung Electronics fell 1.8 percent despite reporting much stronger-than-expected third-quarter profit on strong chip demand.

Hanwha Ocean shares plummeted 5.8 percent after Beijing announced sanctions against five U.S.-based subsidiaries of the South Korean shipping giant, accusing the firm of cooperating with Washington in its curbs on China's maritime sector.

Australian markets ended slightly higher as rate earth stocks extended gains on renewed U.S.-China tensions.

A surge in gold prices to another peak sent gold miners higher, offsetting losses in the banking sector.

Minutes from Reserve Bank of Australia's September meeting released earlier in the day prompted traders to pare their bets of a November 4 rate cut.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 edged up by 0.19 percent to 8,899.40 while the broader All Ordinaries index closed up 0.27 percent at 9,208.50.

Across the Tasman, New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX-50 index fell 0.56 percent to 13,276.99.

The dollar held steady in Asian trade while gold traded at $4,120 an ounce, after having hit a new record high of $4,179 earlier.

Oil prices reversed early gains amid growing doubts over whether China and the U.S. could strike a tariff deal.

U.S. stocks rose sharply overnight, partly offsetting the steep losses posted last Friday.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite spiked 2.2 percent as Broadcom Inc. became the latest chipmaker to forge a blockbuster data center deal with OpenAI.

The S&P 500 rallied 1.6 percent and the Dow added 1.3 percent after President Trump stuck a more conciliatory tone, saying it will be fine with China and the U.S. wants to help the country, not hurt it.