Afp Business Asia

The EU’s top team is to embark on an “unprecedented” visit to India this week, as the bloc seeks to broaden its commercial and diplomatic ties to hedge against souring relations with the United States.EU chief Ursula von der Leyen and her college of commissioners are to hold talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government in New Delhi during a two-day trip, starting Thursday.The trip is the latest sign of a Brussels push to diversify ties away from the United States and position itself as a reliable partner for others looking to do business.”In this era of intense geostrategic competition, Europe stands for openness, partnership, and outreach,” von der Leyen said ahead of the trip, hailing India as one of the EU’s “most trusted friends and allies”.Almost all the EU’s 26 commissioners are to join the 66-year-old German politician in what the bloc’s executive is billing as the first visit of its kind to the South Asian giant — and the first outside Europe for the new college that took office in December.It comes as US President Donald Trump has upended Brussels’s traditionally close partnership with Washington, berating EU tech laws, threatening tariffs, and undercutting European allies by launching Ukraine talks with Russia’s Vladimir Putin. The European Union has been left “looking for friends” and India, the world’s most populous country, is a “natural candidate”, said Andre Sapir, of Brussels-based think tank Bruegel.- Trade call -Brussels has been working to broaden its horizons since Trump won back the White House in November.In recent months it has announced a strengthened trade deal with Mexico, the resumption of talks with Malaysia, a new agreement with the South American bloc Mercosur and the “first-ever” EU-Central Asia summit. It has also struck a more conciliatory note towards China, which however “remains a significant strategic challenge for Europe”, said James Crabtree, of the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) think tank.”Building stronger ties with India — a democracy with increasing global influence — offers both greater economic opportunity and political appeal,” he said.Trade will be high on the agenda.The EU is India’s largest trading partner, accounting for 124 billion euros ($130 billion) worth of trade in goods in 2023 — more than 12 percent of total Indian trade, according to the EU.India’s expanding market offers key opportunities for sectors ranging from defence to agriculture, automobiles and clean energy. Yet, protected by high tariffs, it currently accounts for only 2.2 percent of EU trade in goods.Negotiations for a trade deal were relaunched in 2022 and could get a boost from a White House bent on slapping tariffs on friends and foes alike, said a European diplomat.”The case for a free trade agreement has never been stronger,” the diplomat said.- AI and defence -Trump feted Modi in Washington vowing to ramp up trade this month, but India is also seeking renewed relationships elsewhere as a “hedge against a newly capricious America”, said Crabtree.The European Commission’s trip comes hard on the heels of a visit by British trade secretary Jonathan Reynolds aimed at restarting stalled trade negotiations.  “In the shadow of US tariff, India back to table for trade talks with UK, EU”, a headline in The Indian Express daily read on Tuesday.One of the biggest challenges for New Delhi in recent years has been creating millions of new jobs for its young and rapidly expanding skilled workforce. India’s government has for years also pushed for Europe to grant quicker visas for its businesses and students.Cooperation on technology and artificial intelligence, where Europe and India are eager to play a larger role, will also be on the table. So will security and defence, the EU diplomat said, adding Brussels was eager to “join forces” with New Delhi. The supply of defence equipment, enforcement of EU sanctions against Russia and peace talks over Ukraine were likely to be discussed.India has long pursued a policy of strategic autonomy in foreign affairs.Historically close to Russia, its traditional supplier of military hardware, it has resisted Western pressure to distance itself from Moscow following its invasion of Ukraine.The commission’s visit is not expected to result in the signing of any deal, but should pave the way for an EU-India summit to be held in India later this year. 

Shares of the US electric vehicle pioneer Tesla plunged Tuesday, leaving its market value below $1 trillion as investors digested disappointing European sales and chief executive Elon Musk’s aggressive foray into politics.The auto giant sold less than 10,000 units in Europe last month, down around 45 percent from a year earlier.Tesla’s shares fell finished down 8.4 percent to $302.80, a drop that sliced $89 billion from its market value in a bruising session.Musk has taken on a high-profile advisory role in US President Donald Trump’s administration, charged with slashing government spending.He has also voiced strong support for far-right political leaders in Europe — including in the recent German elections — sparking criticism from some European politicians. “Tesla is clearly facing challenges in Europe and the Musk brand issues are adding to the headwinds,” Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives told AFP in a message, estimating that between 10 and 15 percent of these headwinds were down to anti-Musk behavior. Tesla’s share price surged in the wake of the 2024 US presidential election, with investors betting that Musk’s proximity to Trump could help his companies succeed. The poor sales figures in Europe appear to have punctured that optimism — at least for now — and raised concerns that what may be popular in the United States could in fact be detrimental to the company’s success elsewhere.Musk’s political views in Europe and Germany are “not the best thing for Tesla sales,” Ives said, adding: “It’s like putting mustard on a slice of pizza.”Alongside its European struggles, Tesla also faces stiff competition from automakers like BYD in China — a key market for electric vehicles.Earlier this week, the company announced it would start offering advanced self-driving functions for its cars in China, shortly after BYD said it would introduce self-driving technology for nearly all its vehicles. 

Global stock indices slid on Tuesday, with tech shares especially weak, after data showed US consumer confidence slumped amid unease over President Trump’s tariff plans. US consumer confidence in February saw its largest monthly decline since August 2021, according to a Conference Board survey that comes on the heels of other lackluster US reports.”Consumers’ confidence has deteriorated sharply in the face of threats to impose large tariffs and to slash federal spending and employment,” Pantheon Macroeconomics chief US economist Samuel Tombs wrote in a note to clients. The so-called Magnificent Seven stocks, which helped drive US stocks to records at the end of last year, mostly fell Tuesday, weighing especially on the Nasdaq.The worst hit among them was Tesla, which suffered an 8.4 percent drop as investors digested disappointing European sales and chief executive Elon Musk’s aggressive foray into politics.”The once mighty tech sector in the US is no more,” said Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB.She noted that the best performing sectors in 2025 do not include tech, but rather transport, tobacco, healthcare and gold.Meanwhile shares in Nvidia, whose chips are prized for generative AI applications, fell nearly three percent ahead of it releasing quarterly results on Wednesday. Traders will be keenly awaiting its outlook on AI chip sales.It will be Nvidia’s first earnings release since DeepSeek upended the AI industry at the start of this year by unveiling a high-performing chatbot that it reportedly developed at a fraction of the cost of its Western rivals and with less powerful chips.The US consumer confidence report deepened a recent drop in optimism in Trump’s second month back in office.In recent days Trump has reiterated his intention to slap import tariffs on key US trading partners Canada and Mexico.Over the weekend he signed a memo calling for curbs on Chinese investments in industries including technology and critical infrastructure, healthcare and energy.Tariffs would likely cause a surge in inflation, slowing growth and reducing the chances of further interest rate cuts.Europe’s main indices finished mixed after having been solidly higher earlier in the session.Asian markets ended lower.Bitcoin fell back below $90,000 as the optimism over expected Trump deregulation for the crypto market ebbs away.The sector has also been hit by the recent $1.5 billion hack of Dubai-based cryptocurrency exchange Bybit, representing the biggest crypto theft in history, as well as a memecoin scandal in Argentina.- Key figures around 2140 GMT -New York – Dow: UP 0.4 percent at 43,621.16 (close)New York – S&P 500: DOWN 0.5 percent at 5,955.25 (close)New York – Nasdaq Composite: DOWN 1.4 percent at 19,026.39 (close)London – FTSE 100: UP 0.1 percent at 8,668.67 (close)Paris – CAC 40: DOWN 0.5 at 8,051.07 (close)Frankfurt – DAX: DOWN 0.1 percent at 22,410.27 (close)Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 1.4 percent at 38,237.79 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 1.3 percent at 23,034.02 (close)Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 0.8 percent at 3,346.04 (close)Euro/dollar: UP at $1.0517 from $1.0468 on MondayPound/dollar: UP at $1.2668 from $1.2625Dollar/yen: DOWN at 149.00 from 149.72 yenEuro/pound: UP at 83.00 pence from 82.91 pence West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 2.5 percent at $68.93 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: DOWN 2.4 percent at $73.02 per barrelburs-jmb/jgc

Japan’s biggest airline ANA Holdings announced Tuesday it will purchase 77 new aircraft from Boeing, Airbus and Embraer to replenish its fleet in order to serve growing passenger demand domestically and internationally. The order will be valued at a total of 2.1 trillion yen (about $14 billion) at catalogue prices before discounts, the company said, adding in a separate statement that 68 orders have been confirmed, with nine options for small and medium-size aircraft. This mega-order is done “in anticipation of future growth in passenger demand, including strong inbound demand”, it said. “This will be achieved by renewing the fleet that was suspended due to the Covid-19 and placing additional orders for new aircraft.”From Boeing, the company will purchase 18 widebody 787-9 aircraft — used for “international routes in anticipation of strong Asia-North America demand” — and a dozen 737-8 jets.ANA, or All Nippon Airways, will also be purchasing a total of 27 Airbus aircraft — some of which would be used by Peach, a low-cost carrier owned by ANA.For domestic routes, ANA will order 20 100-seat class Embraer E190-E2 aircraft, saying it was “the first time in Japan” for the Brazilian plane manufacturer.  “This order will be the catalyst for improving the profitability of domestic flights and the expansion of international flights which is an area of future growth of our airline business,” said ANA Holdings president and CEO Koji Shibata in the statement. “We will fully utilize this opportunity in order to become an industry-leading airline with sustainable growth.”With this massive buy, the total number of aircraft in the Group’s fleet — including those already ordered — will be approximately 320 by the financial year 2030. More than half would be the Boeing 787 series aircraft, ANA said.Boeing said it was “honored” that ANA selected the 787 Dreamliner and 737 MAX to expand its fleet. “This order is a testament to the market-leading capabilities of Boeing’s wide-ranging family of airplanes. We look forward to working closely with ANA to finalize the agreement,” the US aviation giant said in a statement.A spokesperson for Airbus said: “We are pleased that ANA has decided to grow its fleet with a new order for 24 A321neo and three A321XLR aircraft. We look forward to finalising the details.”

Shares of the US electric vehicle pioneer Tesla slumped as much as nine percent Tuesday, as investors digested disappointing European sales and chief executive Elon Musk’s aggressive foray into politics.The auto giant sold less than 10,000 units in Europe last month, down around 45 percent from a year earlier.Tesla’s shares fell nine percent in early trading before paring some losses to trade down 8.1 percent at around 12:15 pm local time in Washington (1715 GMT).The decline in the company’s share price dragged its market capitalization back below $1 trillion for the first time since November 2024.Musk has taken on a high-profile advisory role in US President Donald Trump’s administration, charged with slashing government spending.He has also voiced strong support for far-right political leaders in Europe — including in the recent German elections — sparking criticism from some European politicians. “Tesla is clearly facing challenges in Europe and the Musk brand issues are adding to the headwinds,” Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives told AFP in a message, estimating that between 10 and 15 percent of these headwinds were down to anti-Musk behavior. Tesla’s share price surged in the wake of the 2024 US presidential election, with investors betting that Musk’s proximity to Trump could help his companies succeed. The poor sales figures in Europe appear to have punctured that optimism — at least for now — and raised concerns that what may be popular in the United States could in fact be detrimental to the company’s success elsewhere.Musk’s political views in Europe and Germany are “not the best thing for Tesla sales,” Ives said, adding: “It’s like putting mustard on a slice of pizza.”Alongside its European struggles, Tesla also faces stiff competition from automakers like BYD in China — a key market for electric vehicles.Earlier this week, the company announced it would start offering advanced self-driving functions for its cars in China, shortly after BYD said it would introduce self-driving technology for nearly all its vehicles. 

European and US stock markets largely shrugged off Tuesday the latest calls by US President Donald Trump for tariff threats, though tech stocks sagged.Wall Street opened higher, with the Dow and S&P 500 edging up but the tech-heavy Nasdaq slipping.”There hasn’t been a full thrust of buying interest, though, as the recent price action has left participants feeling somewhat sheepish about buying into the weakness,” said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O’Hare.Europe’s main indices were higher in afternoon trading, with defence and banking stocks faring particularly well. A weak session across Asia followed softness in New York on Monday, with the S&P 500 falling below its 50-day moving average. Markets were responding to an “unease over looming US tariff policies and their potential ripple effects on global growth and inflation,” said Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.Trump said Monday that he planned to proceed with tariffs on Canada and Mexico once a 30-day suspension expires next week.Levies were announced against the countries in January but had been delayed to allow for negotiations. Tariffs on Chinese goods went ahead without a grace period.The announcement came after Trump signed a memo at the weekend calling for curbs on Chinese investments in industries including technology and critical infrastructure, healthcare and energy.The developments fanned tensions between the world’s top economic superpowers and added to concerns about the possibility of another debilitating trade war amid growing uncertainty about the global outlook.Tariff fears have been mitigated somewhat by the view that Trump uses tariff threats as a negotiating tactic, but the tech sector has been a point of weakness. China’s DeepSeek unveiling a chatbot that upended the AI industry led traders to reassess their recent vast investments, and a trade war with China could disrupt their businesses.The Magnificent Seven tech stocks, which include Google parent Alphabet, Amazon, Meta and Nvidia, have fallen around 8.5 percent since peaking in early December.Nvidia, whose results on Wednesday will be closely watched for its views on the outlook for AI chip sales in light of the Chinese startup’s arrival, saw its stock fall though its 50-day moving average in trading on Monday.Its shares fell another one percent as trading got underway in New York on Tuesday.Bitcoin fell back below $90,000 for the first time in a little more than a month as the optimism over expected Trump deregulation for the crypto market ebbs away.The sector has also been hit by the recent $1.5 billion hack of Dubai-based cryptocurrency exchange Bybit, representing the biggest crypto theft in history, as well as a memecoin scandal in Argentina.In company news, shares in British consumer goods giant Unilever fell around 2.5 percent after chief executive Hein Schumacher stepped down after less than two years at the helm. – Key figures around 1430 GMT -New York – Dow: UP 0.4 percent at 43,647.31 pointsNew York – S&P 500: FLAT at 5,985.08New York – Nasdaq Composite: DOWN 0.2 percent at 19,243.83London – FTSE 100: UP 0.6 percent at 8,708.87 Paris – CAC 40: UP 0.1 at 8,102.61Frankfurt – DAX: UP 0.4 percent at 22,524.11 Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 1.4 percent at 38,237.79 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 1.3 percent at 23,034.02 (close)Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 0.8 percent at 3,346.04 (close)Euro/dollar: UP at $1.0503 from $1.0468 on MondayPound/dollar: UP at $1.2670 from $1.2623Dollar/yen: DOWN at 149.34 from 149.76 yenEuro/pound: DOWN at 82.89 pence from 82.91 pence West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.6 percent at $70.30 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: DOWN 0.3 percent at $73.83 per barrelburs-rl/js

Stock markets struggled on Tuesday as US President Donald Trump reignited trade war fears after he called for fresh curbs on Chinese investments including in the tech sector.London equities rose while Paris and Frankfurt struggled for direction, with defence and banking stocks faring particularly well. That followed a weak session across Asia and in New York. Global markets were responding to an “unease over looming US tariff policies and their potential ripple effects on global growth and inflation,” said Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.Trump said on Monday that he plans to proceed with tariffs on Canada and Mexico once a 30-day suspension expires next week.Levies were announced against countries in January but had been delayed to allow for negotiations. Tariffs on Chinese goods went ahead without a grace period.The announcement came after Trump signed a memo at the weekend calling for curbs on Chinese investments in industries including technology and critical infrastructure, healthcare and energy.The developments fanned tensions between the world’s top economic superpowers and added to concerns about the possibility of another debilitating trade war amid growing uncertainty about the global outlook.”Trump’s first term as US president was defined by trade wars. We might now be looking at his second term as being a tech war, with the world battling China,” said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.Hong Kong dropped more than one percent, with Alibaba and e-commerce rival JD.com off more than three percent and Tencent losing nearly three percent. Shanghai and Tokyo stock markets were also in the red.The losses followed a broadly negative day in New York, where tech giants have hit a wall since China’s DeepSeek unveiled a chatbot that upended the AI industry and led traders to reassess their recent vast investments.It also came ahead of the release of earnings from market darling Nvidia, which will be closely watched for its views on the outlook in light of the Chinese startup’s arrival.Seoul retreated as the South Korean central bank cut its economic growth outlook and lowered interest rates amid fears over the US tariffs and the fallout from President Yoon Suk Yeol’s brief declaration of martial law in December.Bitcoin fell back below $90,000 for the first time in a little more than a month as the optimism over expected Trump deregulation for the crypto market ebbs away.The sector has also been hit by the recent $1.5 billion hack of Dubai-based cryptocurrency exchange Bybit, representing the biggest crypto theft in history, as well as a memecoin scandal in Argentina.In company news, shares in British consumer goods giant Unilever fell around two percent after chief executive Hein Schumacher stepped down after less than two years at the helm. – Key figures around 1100 GMT -London – FTSE 100: UP 0.3 percent at 8,686.25 pointsParis – CAC 40: DOWN 0.1 at 8,081.10Frankfurt – DAX: DOWN 0.1 percent at 22,396.74 Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 1.4 percent at 38,237.79 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 1.3 percent at 23,034.02 (close)Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 0.8 percent at 3,346.04 (close)New York – Dow: UP 0.1 percent at 43,461.21 (close)Euro/dollar: UP at $1.0473 from $1.0468 on MondayPound/dollar: UP at $1.2625 from $1.2623Dollar/yen: UP at 149.79 from 149.76 yenEuro/pound: UP at 82.97 pence from 82.91 pence West Texas Intermediate: FLAT at $70.71 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: UP 0.3 percent at $74.24 per barrel

The Indonesian government has agreed to terms with Apple to lift a ban on sales of the iPhone 16 model, a government source familiar with the matter told AFP on Tuesday, ending months of negotiations between Jakarta and the tech giant.Indonesia in October prohibited the marketing and sale of the iPhone 16 model over Apple’s failure to meet local investment regulations requiring that 40 percent of phones be made from local parts as the country seeks to boost investments from giant tech companies.The government source did not disclose any information about the terms, nor when the agreed conditions would be presented to the public.In November Indonesia rejected a $100 million investment proposal from Apple, saying it lacked the “fairness” required by the government.The negotiation deadlock forced the tech giant to later offer an investment of $1 billion to build an AirTag factory in the country.Apple and Indonesia’s industry ministry, which will sign off on any agreement, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Industry Minister Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita had said Apple had not satisfied the government’s requirements, especially when compared with the tech giant’s investments in other countries.Despite the sales ban, the government had allowed iPhone 16s to be carried into Indonesia if they were not being traded commercially. As of the end of 2024, the government estimated about 9,000 units of the new model have entered the country that way. Indonesia also banned the sale of Google Pixel phones for failing to meet the 40 percent parts requirement.Last year Apple chief executive Tim Cook visited Indonesia as the tech giant explores ways to invest in Southeast Asia’s biggest economy and diversify supply chains away from China.He met then-president Joko Widodo and his successor Prabowo Subianto for talks after the iPhone-maker announced it would expand its developer academies in the country.

US electric vehicle giant Tesla has started offering advanced self-driving functions for its cars in China, including autopilot on city streets, the company announced on Tuesday.The announcement comes after years of attempts to overcome regulatory hurdles blocking the update of such features in the world’s largest automobile market.Tesla said in a statement on its WeChat page on Tuesday that it would gradually roll out a software update that includes “automatic Autopilot-assisted driving on city streets”, as well as a rearview mirror function that detects whether drivers are paying attention.The functions described are similar to the “Full Self-Driving” (FSD) capability it offers in the United States. Cars with that capability are not fully autonomous and are meant to be used under driver supervision.The update “has already been released for some car models, and will be gradually rolled out to other suitable car models”, Tesla said.China is a major market for Tesla, where the company has two factories and is trying to compete with fast-growing domestic manufacturers.Tuesday’s statement follows an announcement by Chinese automaker BYD, Tesla’s biggest rival in the country, that it would introduce advanced self-driving technology for nearly all its cars.Tesla has been working to gain approval in China for FSD, which needs to be compliant with strict data and privacy laws.Tesla CEO Elon Musk has made several trips to China in recent years in an effort to win crucial data security clearance for the company’s locally produced models.- Tesla hype -Musk is a key figure in the administration of US President Donald Trump, who has imposed additional tariffs on products from China and has vowed to curb Chinese investments in technology and critical infrastructure.But the Tesla CEO remains a popular figure in China, where he is seen as a successful and influential entrepreneur.Musk has nearly 2.3 million followers on the Chinese social media site Weibo and his mother, Maye Musk, has appeared in advertisements for multiple Chinese consumer brands.On Tuesday, Tesla’s Chinese website was updated to allow customers to select “FSD smart assisted driving function” as a product on available cars.Tesla drivers quickly took to social media to show off the new functions, including posting videos that showed people driving their cars without their hands on the steering wheel.China’s tech companies and automakers have poured billions of dollars into self-driving technology in an effort to catch industry leaders in the United States.While consumers are still unable to purchase fully autonomous vehicles, China has already approved multiple self-driving taxi services in major cities.In the city of Wuhan, more than 500 driverless taxis ferry passengers across large swaths of the city as part of Chinese tech giant Baidu’s Apollo Go project.BYD’s “God’s Eye” autonomous driving system features remote parking and autonomous highway navigation previously found only on more expensive vehicles.The Chinese automaker said this month it would now make the system available even in budget models priced below $10,000.

Asian markets sank on Tuesday as fears of US President Donald Trump’s trade war returned to the fore after he called for fresh curbs on Chinese investments in strategic sectors including technology.The losses followed a broadly negative day in New York, where tech giants have hit a wall since China’s DeepSeek unveiled a chatbot that upended the AI industry and led traders to reassess their recent vast investments.They also come ahead of the release of earnings from market darling Nvidia, which will be closely watched for its views on the outlook in light of the Chinese startup’s arrival.After a healthy run in February, markets have been put on the back foot since Trump said on Monday that he plans to proceed with tariffs on Canada and Mexico once a 30-day suspension expires next week.Levies were announced against countries in January but Trump said they would be delayed by a month to allow for negotiations. Tariffs on Chinese goods went ahead without a grace period.The comments came after Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said earlier in the day that talks would continue this week to avoid the sweeping levies.Asked about a Bloomberg News report that the United States was pushing her government to impose duties on Chinese imports, Sheinbaum said it was important to “prioritise those places where you have trade agreements versus others where you do not have them”.Canada’s Foreign Minister Melanie Joly warned “the threat of tariffs is a real one, and may continue for a while”.Trump’s announcement came after he signed a memo at the weekend calling for curbs on Chinese investments in industries including technology and critical infrastructure, healthcare and energy.The memo called for the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) to be used to restrict Chinese stakeholdings. The move was aimed at promoting foreign investment in the United States, while protecting national security interests “particularly from threats posed by foreign adversaries” like China, the White House said.The memo singled out China for “increasingly exploiting United States capital to develop and modernise its military, intelligence, and other security apparatuses”.China said the “US approach unduly broadens the concept of national security, and is discriminatory”.The developments fanned tensions between the world’s top economic superpowers and added to concerns about the possibility of another debilitating trade war amid growing uncertainty about the global outlook.”We see market volatility continuing in Hong Kong and China as investors digest the latest news on the Trump investment curbs,” said Heron Lim at Moody’s Analytics.However, he added that Trump had been pushing such measures in his first term. Therefore, “Beijing has had some time to mitigate the worst of the damage”, Lim added.”In some sense, the ongoing industrial and R&D policies of China are aimed towards self-reliance. The fact that the stock market in Hong Kong — seen as the barometer of foreign investor trust in China — is a long time away from its pre-pandemic peak tells us that these measures are largely priced into investors’ valuation of Chinese firms.”Hong Kong, where tech titans including Alibaba and Tencent have led the market to a three-year high, was among the biggest losers.The Hang Seng Index dropped more than one percent, with Alibaba and ecommerce rival JD.com off more than three percent and Tencent losing nearly three percent. Alibaba’s New York-listed stock sank more than 10 percent Monday.Shanghai, Tokyo, Sydney, Wellington, Taipei, Manila, Bangkok, Singapore and Jakarta were also in the red.Seoul retreated as the South Korean central bank cut its economic growth outlook and lowered interest rates amid fears over the impact of Trump’s tariff drive and the fallout from President Yoon Suk Yeol’s brief declaration of martial law in December.London was flat at the open while Frankfurt and Paris were down.Bitcoin fell back below $90,000 for the first time in a little more than a month as the optimism over expected Trump deregulation for the crypto market ebbs away.The sector has also been hit by the recent $1.5 billion hack of Dubai-based cryptocurrency exchange Bybit, representing the biggest crypto theft in history, as well as a memecoin scandal in Argentina.- Key figures around 0815 GMT -Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 1.4 percent at 38,237.79 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 1.3 percent at 23,034.02 (close)Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 0.8 percent at 3,346.04 (close)London – FTSE 100: FLAT at 8,662.58Euro/dollar: UP at $1.0470 from $1.0468 on MondayPound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2621 from $1.2623Dollar/yen: DOWN at 149.21 from 149.76 yenEuro/pound: UP at 82.96 pence from 82.91 pence West Texas Intermediate: UP 0.2 percent at $70.86 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: UP 0.1 percent at $74.88 per barrelNew York – Dow: UP 0.1 percent at 43,461.21 (close)