In Asian Equity Markets indices were mixed in Monday morning trade. Mainland Chinese shares rose in morning trade, as the Shanghai composite added 0.45% and Shenzhen component was up 0.78%. Over in Hong Kong, however, the Hang Seng index slipped 0.55%. Elsewhere, the Nikkei 225 in Japan shed 0.26%, while the Topix index also fell 0.31%. Over in South Korea, the Kospi declined 0.11%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 traded 0.12% lower. Overall, the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index fell 0.22%.

In Currency Markets the yen strengthened on Monday, thanks to bigger appetites for safe-haven assets as Washington and Beijing put additional tariffs on each other’s exports, adding to the gloom hanging over the global economic outlook. The yen rose around 0.1% versus to dollar to 106.15 in Asian trading. The Japanese currency rose around 0.2% to 71.43 versus the Australian dollar and advanced around 0.2% to 66.88 per New Zealand dollar. In the onshore Chinese market, the yuan traded at 7.1611 per dollar, versus its previous close of 7.1580.

In Commodities Markets oil prices were lower on Monday after new tariffs imposed by the United States and China came into force, raising concerns about a further hit to global growth and demand for crude. Brent crude was down 27 cents, or 0.5%, at $58.98 a barrel, while U.S. oil was down 2 cents at $55.083 at barrel. The United States began imposing 15% tariffs on a variety of Chinese goods on Sunday – including footwear, smart watches and flat-panel televisions – as China put new duties on U.S. crude, the latest escalation in a bruising trade war.

In US Equity Markets ended fell on Friday as investors were cautious ahead of a holiday weekend in which a fresh round of U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports were due to be levied. The Consumer Discretionary sector was the S&P’s biggest drag as Ulta Beauty Inc, which had been the S&P’s top performing stock in Wall Street’s decade-old bull market, fell 29.6% after the cosmetics company cut its full-year profit forecast. One of the biggest percentage gainers on the benchmark index was Campbell Soup Co, which jumped 3.9% after its quarterly profit beat estimates.

In Bond Markets Japanese government bond (JGB) prices dipped and their yields pulled back from multi-year lows on Monday, after the Bank of Japan (BOJ) opted to trim the amount of bonds it buys at regular operations in an attempt to temper the recent slide in yields. The benchmark 10-year JGB yield was 1 basis point higher at minus 0.270% after sliding to a three-year low of minus 0.290% on Thursday. The 20-year yield rose 1.5 basis points to 0.060% following a descent to 0.040% last week, its lowest since July 2016.