Benchmarks in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Sydney retreated. Japanese markets were closed for a holiday.
“With 43 days to the U.S. election, fingers crossed may be what little one can do when it comes to the fiscal stimulus hopes,” said Jingyi Pan of IG in a report. The Kospi in Seoul 180721, -0.95% was up less than 0.1% at 2,413.19, while Sydney’s S&P-ASX 200 XJO, -0.71% sank 0.7% to 5,823.70.Global markets have recovered most of this year’s losses, though the bulk of gains went to big tech companies and a handful of stocks, while most issues still are down.
Apple Inc. AAPL, -3.17% dropped 3.2%, Microsoft Corp. MSFT, -1.24% fell 1.2% and Amazon.com Inc. AMZN, -1.78% slid 1.8%. Markets also are on edge about U.S.-Chinese tension over trade, technology and security.