Asian markets retreat on mixed trade-war news – MarketWatch, Marketwatch.com

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

Shares were mixed in a narrow range in Asia on Monday, with markets in China heading into a national holiday.

Chinese manufacturing data was slightly better than analysts’ estimates, helping to boost sentiment . But the downbeat mood on Wall Street on Friday carried over into Monday’s trading.

Nikkei                                                                                                                                                                                                                      NIK,– 0. 56%                                                                                                                                                          fell 0.8%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index                                                                                                                                                                                                                      HSI, 0. 53%                                                                                                                                                          rose 0.5%. The Shanghai Composite                                                                                                                                                                                                                      SHCOMP,– 0. 92%                                                                                                                                                          slipped 0.4% while the Shenzhen Composite                                                                                                                                                                                                                      399106,– 1. 06%                                                                                                                                                          declined 0.6% ahead of the National Day holiday, which will shut Chinese markets until Oct. 8. South Korea’s Kospi                                                                                                                                                                                                                      180721, 0. 64%                                                                                                                                                          rose 0.5% while benchmark indexes in Singapore                                                                                                                                                                                                                      STI,– 0. (%)                                                                                                                                                          and Indonesia                                                                                                                                                                                                                      JAKIDX,– 0. 45%                                                                                                                                                          declined. Australia’s S & P / ASX 200                                                                                                                                                                                                                      XJO,– 0. (%)                                                                                                                                                          

Hong Kong got a boost from reassuring comments by the chief executive of its monetary authority.

Norman Chan Tak-lam, who is stepping down, said that despite the past several months of political protest, “the monetary system that means the exchange rate, the banking system and the financial system, have remained stable, and they have been continue to function normally and smoothly.”

Two gauges of Chinese factory activity improved in September ahead of a round of trade talks with Washington.

Surveys released Monday by an industry group and a business magazine both showed improvement, though the gains were small.

Demand for Chinese goods has been hurt by weakening domestic and global economic growth as well as US tariff hikes in a fight over trade and technology. Negotiators are due to meet next month in Washington but there has been no sign of progress toward ending the dispute.

China said Sunday that its top trade negotiator, Vice Premier Liu He, will travel to Washington on October for renewed trade negotiations with the US An exact date for the talks was not announced, but a senior Chinese official said “The two sides should find a solution through equal dialogue in accordance with the principle of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit,”the Associated Press reported.

On Friday, reports emerged about possible White House plans to restrict US investment in Chinese companies. U.S. Treasury officials on Saturday denied any plans to do so “at this time,” but also did not rule them out,leaving analysts and investors to wonderif it was a negotiating tactic or a signal of a much harder line by the Trump administration.

Among individual stocks, SoftBank                                                                                                                                                                                                                      9984 ,– 2. (%)                                                                                                                                                          fell in Tokyo trading, along with Toyota                                                                                                                                                                                                                      7203,– 2. 08%                                                                                                                                                          and Screen Holdings                                                                                                                                                                                                                      7735,– 3. 19%                                                                                                                                                          . In Hong Kong, PetroChina                                                                                                                                                                                                                      857, 1. 77%                                                                                                                                                          and China Mobile                                                                                                                                                                                                                      941, 1. 33%                                                                                                                                                          rose, and Budweiser APAC – the Asian spinoff from beer-maker Anheuser-Busch InBev –opened higher in its massive initial public offering. LG Electronics                                                                                                                                                                                                                      066570, 1. (*******************************************************************************************************************************************************%                                                                                                                                                          and SK Hynix                                                                                                                                                                                                                      000660,0. 98%                                                                                                                                                          gained in South Korea, while Rio Tinto                                                                                                                                                                                                                      ********************************** (RIO, 1. ************************************************************************************************************************************************ (%)                                                                                                                                                          gained in Australia.

Wall Street capped a choppy week with a second straight weekly loss for the S&P 500 Friday as worries about a potential escalation in the trade war between the US and *** erased early gains.

Technology companies led the broad slide as investors weighed reports about possible White House plans to restrict U.S. investment in Chinese companies. U.S. Treasury officials on Saturday denied any plans to do so “at this time,” but also did not rule them out,leaving analysts and investors to wonderif it was a negotiating tactic or a signal of a much harder line by the Trump administration.

Uncertainty over the long-running trade war has fueled volatility in the market and stoked worries that the impact of tariffs and other tactics employed by the countries against each other is hampering US economic and corporate profit growth.

The possibility that the U.S. is weighing another way of applying pressure on China dampened investors’ already cautious optimism that the world’s two biggest economies might make progress as their representatives resume their negotiations.

The S&P 500 index                                                                                                                                                                                                                      SPX,– 0. 53%                                                                                                                                                          fell 0.5% to 2, 961. 79. The benchmark index finished the week with a 1% loss. Even so, it remains 2.1% below its all-time high set in July.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average                                                                                                                                                                                                                      ****************************************** (DJIA,– 0. (%)                                                                                                                                                          dropped 0.3% to 26, 820. 25. The Nasdaq                                                                                                                                                                                                                      ********************************************** (COMP,) – 1. 13%                                                                                                                                                          , which is heavily weighted with technology stocks, lost 1.1% to 7, 939. 63.

Investors also shifted money out of smaller company stocks, pulling the Russell 2000 index                                                                                                                                                                                                                      (RUT,– 0. (************************************************************************************************************************%                                                                                                                                                          down 12 . 85 points, or 0.8%, to 1, 520. 48.

Benchmark crude oil                                                                                                                                                                                                                      (CLX) ,– 1. 22%                                                                                                                                                          rose 13 cents to $ 56. 04 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It lost 50 cents on Friday to $ 55. 91 a barrel.

Brent crude oil                                                                                                                                                                                                                      BRNZ 19,– 1. 25%                                                                                                                                                          , the international standard, picked up 13 cents to $ 61. 17 a barrel.

The dollar                                                                                                                                                                                                                      USDJPY, 0. 01%                                                                                                                                                          slipped to 107. 95 Japanese yen from 97 yen. The                                                                                                                                                                                                                      EURUSD,– 0. 1371%                                                                                                                                                          strengthened to $ 1. 0935 from $ 1. 0934.