View of the central business district skyline at sunset in Beijing, China.
Sheng Peng | Visual China Group | Getty Images
Asia-Pacific markets opened lower Monday after U.S. President Donald Trump levied tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China over the weekend.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 dropped 1.86%.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 1.84% at the open, while the Topix lost 1.75%. South Korea’s Kospi dropped 2.32% and the small-cap Kosdaq traded 1.9% lower.
Chinese markets remain closed for the Lunar New Year holiday.
Caixin/S&P Global services manufacturing activity data for China will be released later in the day. The PMI is expected to come in at 50.5, according to Reuters poll estimates.
On Saturday, Trump signed an order implementing a 25% tariff on imports from Mexico and Canada, and a 10% tariff on goods from China. Energy exports from Canada will face a reduced 10% tariff, which are set to come into effect on Tuesday stateside.
The U.S. conducts around $1.6 trillion in annual business with these three countries combined.
Investors will also be assessing the market impact of the India’s Union Budget released over the weekend that offered a huge income tax relief to the country’s middle class. The Indian government also pledged to reduce its fiscal deficit to 4.4% of its GDP for the year beginning April 1, a decrease from a revised 4.8% for the current year, amongst other measures.
Last Friday in the U.S., the three major averages closed lower. The S&P 500 shed 0.50% to end at 6,040.53, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 337.47 points, or 0.75%, weighed down by a decline in Chevron. The 30-stock Dow ended the session at 44,544.66. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.28% to 19,627.44.
—CNBC’s Lisa Kailai Han, Alex Harring and Tanaya Macheel contributed to this report.
