Asian stock market: Bears cheer Sino-US trade war concerns despite China/Japan off

• Asian equities drop heavily as US-China trade war fears renew.
• US President Trump, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo attack China over the mishandling of the virus.
• US President Trump says up to 100,000 Americans may die from coronavirus.
• A light calendar in Asia, off in Japan and China fail to defy the risk-off sentiment.

Asian shares kick-start the key week with noticeable losses, amid the US-China tension, while heading into the European open on Monday. While portraying the mood, MSCI’s index of Asia-Pacific shares loses near 3.0% by the press time even as banks in China and Japan are off for holidays.

US President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo ratchet up the tension with China by initially alleging the dragon nation over its mishandling of the virus. The sentiment turned so sour that US President Trump threatened to tear the trade deal with China. Even so, China’s Global Times (GT) termed the claims as a bluff to foot the US voters.

Other than the US-China story, US President Donald Trump’s anticipation, as conveyed by the FOX News, that up to 100,000 Americans may die from coronavirus also weigh on the trading sentiment.

To cite the mood, US stock futures mark around 1.0% loss while Treasuries remain mostly inactive with an initial downtick amid Japan/China off.

Moving on, India’s BSE SENSEX lose near 5.0%, with NIFTY 50 declining over 7.5%, as the government’s lockdown 3.0 gains criticism whereas stocks in Indonesia and South Korea register losses above 2.0% by the time of writing.

It should also be noted that the economic calendar is a bit light heading into the key week comprising NFP, BOE, RBA and many other key catalysts. As a result, headlines concerning the US-China trade deal and the coronavirus (COVID-19) can entertain the traders.