Asian Markets Slide As Trump Impeached, Japan Keeps Interest Rates, Trade Deal Murky

Markets in Asia-Pacific slipped on Wednesday after initial optimism over the announcement of the phase one of the US-China trade deal last week.

What Happened

The focus from the trade deal moved to the impeachment of the U.S. President Donald Trump by the House of Representatives.

Trump became the third president in U.S. history to get impeached after the Democratic-majority House voted on two articles alleging him of abuse of presidential power and obstruction of Congress.

The impeachment hasn't been a major catalyst for investors either in the U.S. or elsewhere, as the Republican-controlled Senate is widely expected to acquit Trump on these charges.

Meanwhile, details over how exactly the trade deal will pan out remain unclear. As CNBC noted, the two sides are still in the process of translating the agreement and are not expected to sign it at least until January.

"I have no further news at this time and there is nothing to update," Geng Shuang, a spokesperson for the People's Republic of China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said in a news briefing on Wednesday, when asked about the country's commitment to importing Agricultural products from the U.S., as reported by CNBC.

The Bank of Japan on Thursday (Tokyo time) announced that it is keeping the short-term interest rate target at -0.1%, Reuters reported. The bank also shared a gloomier outlook on factory output, saying that it has been impacted by natural disasters.

Stock Market

China's Shanghai Composite traded 0.20% lower at 3,010.86, while Shenzhen Composite was down 0.12%.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index (HSI) traded 0.65% lower at 27702.70.

Japan's Nikkei 225 lost 0.26%, trading at 23,873.01. Tokyo Stock Exchange's TOPIX was down 0.14%.

South Korea's KOSPI was down 0.07% at 2,193.28. Singapore's Straits Times Index (STI) dropped 0.24%

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 traded 0.15% higher. New Zealand's NZX 50 was up 1.33%.

Currencies

The Japanese Yen traded 0.05% up at 109.58 against the U.S. Dollar. The Chinese Yuan was up 0.06% at 7.0039.

The Hong Kong dollar was also up 0.06% at 7.7918. The Korean Won was down 0.25% at 1,163.62.