HONG KONG: Asia markets were down Wednesday as the latest round of US-China talks on their bruising yearlong trade war came to an end in Shanghai.
Washington and Beijing have so far hit each other with punitive tariffs covering more than $360 billion in two-way trade.
US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin finished two-day talks with their counterparts in China's financial capital on Wednesday.
The talks were relatively brief and the Washington delegation left for the airport earlier than expected without speaking to reporters.
Expectations began low and took a further hit after US President Donald Trump launched an attack on Beijing's negotiators which also rocked Wall Street traders on Tuesday.
"My team is negotiating with them now, but they always change the deal in the end to their benefit," Trump tweeted.
Analysts said Trump's remarks did little to ease the already tense relationship between Washington and Beijing.
His tweets gave "a stark reminder to investors that the US and China are no closer to an agreement and in fact, might be drifting farther apart," said VM Markets Singapore managing partner Stephen Innes.
- Trade row fallout -
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In other signs of fallout from the trade row, China saw its third straight month of contraction in the manufacturing sector, despite Beijing's efforts to shore up the sector with tax cuts and better financing for small-to-medium enterprises.
The Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI), a gauge of Chinese factory conditions, came in at 49.7 for the month, slightly above Bloomberg forecasts but below the 50.0 mark denoting positive growth.
Shanghai finished down 0.7 percent while Hong Kong closed early after a storm warning, closing 1.3 percent lower.
Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam signalled a second quarter of slow growth ahead of official GDP figures on Wednesday.
There was "no room for optimism for the second quarter and the entire year", Lam said in a statement to business leaders Tuesday.
The trade dispute with Washington has weighed on the city as it reels from seven weeks of civil unrest and mass protests -- some of which have ended in violence -- triggered by a controversial bill which would have allowed extraditions to mainland China.
Korean stocks were battered in morning trade but pared losses in the afternoon, with Seoul closing down 0.7 percent after Samsung Electronics reported a 53 percent drop in net profits.
The world's biggest smartphone and memory chip maker is facing headwinds as a result of a simmering dispute between South Korea and Japan, which has seen Tokyo impose restrictions on chemical exports crucial to Samsung's key products.
Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei finished down by 0.9 percent but Sony soared by more than five percent after the entertainment giant on Tuesday reported higher operating profit for the first quarter thanks to strong demand for its image sensors.
Elsewhere, Sydney was down 0.5 percent and Taiwan fell 0.1 percent.
Traders are keeping an eye on the US Federal Reserve in anticipation of its first rate cut announcement in 10 years later Wednesday, despite data pointing to strong consumer confidence and rising home sales.
"It will be interesting to see how Fed officials spin a narrative that they are data dependent at a time when the only weakness in the economy appears to be in a sector that is a fairly small part of the US economy," said CMC Markets chief analyst Michael Hewson.
London was down 0.2 percent in early trade.
- Key figures around 0720 GMT -
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Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.9 percent at 21,521.53 (close)
Hong Kong - Hang Seng: DOWN 1.3 percent at 27,777.75 (close)
Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 0.7 percent at 2,932.51 (close)
London - FTSE 100: DOWN 0.2 percent at 7,635.29
Pound/dollar: UP at $1.2175 from $1.2151 at 2040 GMT
Euro/pound: UP at 91.62 pence from 91.51 pence
Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1156 from $1.1142
Dollar/yen: DOWN at 108.56 yen from 108.77 yen
Brent North Sea crude: UP 68 cents at $65.48 per barrel
West Texas Intermediate: UP 47 cents at $58.52 per barrel
New York - Dow: DOWN 0.1 percent at 27,198.02 (close)
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