Asia stocks: China pressured by US blacklist, Japan dips on yen warning

Investing.com– Asian stocks were a mixed bag on Wednesday, with Chinese markets seeing sustained losses after the U.S. added more major firms to a blacklist, while Japanese markets fell after government officials warned of intervention in the currency market.

Regional markets showed some resilience in the face of a negative lead-in from Wall Street, as a mix of technology stock losses and anxiety over interest rates battered U.S. stock benchmarks on Tuesday.

Losses in NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:) were the biggest weight on Wall Street, as a flurry of new products from the company failed to lift its share price. 

Wall Street futures were marginally higher in Asian trade on Wednesday. 

South Korean stocks were an outlier, with the rising 1.1%. Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (KS:), the biggest stock on the index, rose 2.7% even as its fourth-quarter earnings missed expectations by a wide margin. 

Australia’s rose 0.6% as data showed inflation grew more than expected in November. But a mild decline in underlying inflation spurred bets that the Reserve Bank of Australia will cut interest rates sooner, rather than later. 

Singapore’s rose 0.4%, while for India’s index pointed to a positive open, before a barrage of major earnings due in the coming days. 

While Asian stocks saw some gains this week, they were still nursing a weak start to 2025 amid growing uncertainty over U.S. interest rates and policy under incoming President Donald Trump. 

Chinese stocks extend losses after US adds more firms to blacklist 

China’s and indexes fell about 0.8% each, while Hong Kong’s index shed 0.9%. 

Chinese officials lambasted the U.S. government’s decision earlier this week to add technology giant Tencent Holdings Ltd (HK:) and Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:) battery maker Contemporary Amperex Technology (SZ:) to a blacklist of firms with ties to the U.S. military. 

The move stands to further sour ties between the world’s largest economies, and comes as incoming Trump prepares to impose steep trade tariffs on the country.

Trump had denied reports earlier this week that his administration will impose less strict tariffs than initially signaled. 

Among individual movers, BYD (HK:) fell more than 2% in Hong Kong trade after Reuters reported that the firm will be fined for allegedly violating labor laws at a factory in Brazil. 

Japanese stocks fall on yen warning

Japan’s index fell 0.3%, while the shed 0.8% after both indexes clocked strong gains in the prior session. 

Local markets were spooked by government officials warning that further weakness in the could invite currency market intervention. The yen slid to a near six-month low this week. 

Any intervention is likely to spark a sharp recovery in the yen, which in turn could pressure Japanese exporters, which make up a bulk of the Nikkei’s weightage.