Investing.com – Asian markets were mixed in afternoon trade on Wednesday. Mainland Chinese stocks underperformed their regional peers for the second day after the U.S. said it would impose 25% duties on an additional $16 billion in Chinese goods in two weeks.
The Shanghai Composite and the Shenzhen Component fell 0.3% and 0.9% respectively by 1:20AM ET (05:20 GMT). Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index climbed 0.4%.
Official data showed on Wednesday that China’s exports growth in July rose more than expected, although recent trade disputes with the U.S. continued to cloud the country’s economy outlook.
The country’s July exports rose 12.2% from a year earlier, comparing to the forecasts for a 10% increase, and up from a 11.2% gain in June.
Wednesday’s fresh U.S. tariffs would be the second time the Trump administration imposed duties on Chinese imports since July. The U.S. levied 25% duties on $34 billion in Chinese goods on July 6. In response, China followed up by imposing duties on the same value of U.S. products. China's Ministry of Commerce said it had no choice but to respond to the U.S. after the latter "launched the largest trade war in economic history."
Meanwhile, the Chinese yuan received some attention after the People’s Bank of China urged lenders to prevent any “herd behavior” and momentum-chasing moves in the currency market, reports citing people familiar with the matter revealed on Tuesday.
Elsewhere in Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.1%. Softbank Corp. (T:9984) is reportedly in discussion to invest $750 million in Zume Inc., a startup that makes and delivers fresh pizzas with the help of robots, people familiar with the conversations suggested.
Toshiba Corp also received some attention after it reported better-than-expected earnings.
South Korea’s KOSPI climbed 0.1%, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 edged up 0.3%.
Overnight, Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) made headlines after CEO Elon Musk said he is considering to take the company private. The announcement, made via Twitter, pushed Tesla’s share price up as much as 13%. Analysts believed the company could be valued as high as $82 billion including debt.