Asian shares fell on Wednesday as Nvidia took a hit from U.S. cuts on chip sales to China.
Nvidia’s shares slumped 6% in after-hours trading after it said the move would cost $5.5 billion.
The drop highlights the damage to come in a tit-for-tat global trade war, while gold hit a record and the safe-haven currencies jumped.
Overnight, Washington issued new export licensing requirements for Nvidia’s H20 and AMD’s MI308 artificial intelligence chips to China.
Separately, President Donald Trump ordered a probe into potential new tariffs on all U.S. critical minerals imports, on top of reviews into pharmaceutical and chip imports.
On its side, Beijing continues to retaliate, having reportedly ordered airlines to suspend deliveries of Boeing aircraft.
The country has also appointed a new trade enjoy billed to meet the US for trade talks.
The White House said Trump is open to making a trade deal with China, but Beijing should make the first move.
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The sell-off in Asian stocks gathered pace in the afternoon. S&P 500 futures fell 1.5%, while Nasdaq futures slumped 2.3%.
The gloom is set to spread to Europe, with EURO STOXX 50 futures pointing to a 1.5% drop at the open.
On Wednesday, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 1.4%, snapping a four-day winning streak. Japan’s Nikkei (.N225) dropped 1.6%.
Chinese blue chips (CSI300) fell 0.7% as investors failed to find much solace in some solid GDP data that predated the tariff increases in April. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng (.HSI) slumped 2.7%.
U.S. stocks ended slightly lower on Tuesday, with the Dow dipping more than a third of a per cent, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq each fell marginally.
– Key figures around 0715 GMT –
Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 1.0 percent at 33,920.40 (close)
Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 2.0 percent at 21,030.28
Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.3 percent at 3,276.00 (close)
London – FTSE 100: DOWN 0.2 percent at 8,232.51
Dollar/yen: DOWN at 142.40 yen from 143.18 yen on Tuesday
Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1364 from $1.1291
Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3268 from $1.3232
Euro/pound: UP at 85.66 pence from 85.30 pence
West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 1.2 percent at $60.62 per barrel
Brent North Sea Crude: DOWN 1.1 percent at $63.99 per barrel
New York – Dow: DOWN 0.4 percent at 40,368.96 (close)
All of the uncertainties left gold in an unstoppable position, with bullion up 2% to hit another record high of $3,290 per ounce.
ANZ on Wednesday updated their forecast for gold to hit $3,600 an ounce by the year-end, arguing that the risk-off purchases for the asset are yet to pick up.
The step-down in risk appetite is evident via rises in the Japanese yen and Swiss franc. The dollar lost 1.1% to 0.8145 Swiss francs and fell 0.7% to 142.32 yen.
The benchmark 10-year yield was steady at 4.325%, well off the recent high of 4.592%. The 30-year yield was little changed at 4.777%, also some 25 basis points lower from the high seen last week.