Asian shares slugged, bonds bought amid trade gloom

Asian shares sank on Monday as the latest salvo in the Sino-U.S. trade war shook confidence in the world economy and sent investors steaming to the safe harbors of sovereign bonds and gold, while slugging emerging market currencies, Trend reports citing Reuters.

Yields on benchmark 10-year Treasury debt dropped to their lowest since mid-2016, while gold hit its highest since April 2013 as risk was shunned.

There was some relief that China fixed the yuan’s midpoint at a relatively steady 7.0570 per dollar when it had been trading as weak as 7.1850 offshore, countering concerns Beijing would let the currency slide to keep exports competitive.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan still shed 2.0%, and Australia 1.5%.

Japan’s Nikkei lost 2.3%, while Shanghai blue chips fell 1.2%. E-Mini futures for the S&P 500 eased 0.8%, and EUROSTOXX 50 futures 1.1%.