Asian stocks fell on Friday, despite a recovery in U.S. equity markets Thursday that followed a big selloff Wednesday.
The trade dispute between the U.S. and China remained a major concern for market participants as the U.S. on Thursday said it would refuse to resume trade negotiations with China until Beijing comes up with a concrete proposal to address Washington’s complaints about forced technology transfers and other economic issues.
The Japanese yen firmed up against the U.S. dollar on Friday as appetite for riskier assets remained weak while the euro hovered near two-month lows after the European Central Bank failed to convince markets that rates would rise.
The Australian dollar, often viewed as a gauge of risk appetite, hit a near 33-month low as sentiment in Asian trade weakened.
USD/JPY fell 0.2 percent to 112.14 weighed by safe haven flows.
The single currency traded marginally lower with EUR/ USD touching 1.1365 on Friday. It hit a two-month low of 1.1353 the previous session, following European Central Bank President Mario Draghi's failure to convince traders the ECB could pursue monetary tightening after next summer as political and economic uncertainties grow in the monetary union.
The ECB reaffirmed on Thursday that its 2.6 trillion euro ($2.97 trillion) quantitative easing program would end this year and that interest rates could rise after next summer.
The policy guidance has been consistent since June, even though the economic outlook is clouded with political turmoil in Italy as it looms over the currency bloc.
