Friday 17th October 2025: Asian Markets Decline Amid U.S.-China Trade Tensions and Banking Sector Worries

Global Markets:

•  Asian Stock Markets : Nikkei down -1.38%, Shanghai Composite down -1.00%, Hang Seng down -1.77% ASX down 0.79%
• Commodities : Gold at $4,369.11 (1.50%), Silver at $53.298 (0.00%), Brent Oil at $61.03 (-0.05%), WTI Oil at $57.45 (-0.02%)
• Rates : US 10-year yield at 3.945, UK 10-year yield at 4.5040, Germany 10-year yield at 2.5694

News & Data:

• (USD) Crude Oil Inventories  3.5M  to 0.3M expected

Markets Update:

Asian stock markets are trading mostly lower on Friday, mirroring the weak cues from Wall Street overnight as concerns over escalating U.S.-China trade tensions and renewed worries about the U.S. banking sector weighed on sentiment. The recent bankruptcies of auto-related firms First Brands and Tricolor Holdings triggered risk aversion, while traders also engaged in profit-taking after recent gains.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 is down 0.71 percent at 9,003.80, dragged by losses in technology and energy stocks. Major miners like BHP and Rio Tinto are lower, while Fortescue is slightly higher. Tech firms such as Block and Zip are down over 2 percent each. Among banks, ANZ, NAB and Westpac are losing nearly 1 percent. Gold miners, however, are outperforming, led by Newmont and Northern Star Resources.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 is down 0.93 percent to 47,827.31, pressured by declines in automakers and tech heavyweights. SoftBank is losing nearly 3 percent, while Toyota and Honda are weaker. Banking majors like Sumitomo Mitsui and Mitsubishi UFJ are also down more than 2 percent each.

Elsewhere, Hong Kong is up 1.5 percent, while most other Asian markets are lower. On Wall Street, major indexes closed in the red overnight, and oil prices fell sharply on inventory concerns, with WTI crude slipping to $57.30 per barrel.

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