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By Samuel Shen and John Ruwitch
SHANGHAI, Sept 18 (Reuters) - China's yuan currency inched lower on Tuesday after U.S. President Donald Trump said Washington will impose duties on an extra $200 billion worth of Chinese imports, drawing a sharp rebuke and warning from Beijing that it will be forced to retaliate.
The escalation in the trade row between the two economic giants caused some wobbles in Chinese stocks in early trade.
However, they bounced in the afternoon and held up after Beijing vowed to fight back. A rally in infrastructure stocks supported the broader market, with some investors betting that China will step up investment in roads and bridges to offset the impact of the latest tariff salvo from Trump, much of which has already been priced in by the markets.
Trump on Monday imposed 10 percent tariffs on about $200 billion worth of Chinese imports, and threatened to levy duties on an additional $267 billion of Chinese goods if Beijing retaliates.
China's commerce ministry responded in a statement that Beijing had no choice but to hit back and hoped the United States would 'correct' its behavior.
The offshore yuan slipped from 6.8635 per dollar at 0700 GMT, when the commerce ministry statement was made public, to a low of 6.8730 at 0711 GMT. It was trading at 6.8732 per dollar as of 0830 GMT.
After trading sideways in the morning session, China's blue-chip CSI300 index rose 2 percent in the afternoon to close at 3,269.43 points, while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 1.82 percent to 2,699.95 points.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index rose 0.6 percent, to 27,084.66, while the China Enterprises Index gained 0.9 percent, to 10,556.98 points.
"The fresh U.S. measures are fully within expectations," said Wen Feng, investment manager at hedge fund house Shanghai V-Invest Co Ltd.
"China has suffered worse hardships in the past, and I believe some Chinese companies will emerge out of trade war much stronger."
Still, he suggested investors avoid sectors most vulnerable to trade disputes, such as electronics and machinery, as market sentiment will likely remain subdued for some time.
Indeed, with around a 20 percent loss so far in 2018, Shanghai's stock market has joined the crisis-hit trio of Turkey, Argentina and Venezuela among the world's four worst performers. Besides the headline drop in share values, China’s currency has fallen sharply and share transaction volumes have shrunk.
'NOT SIGNIFICANT'
Liu Shijin, a Chinese central bank adviser, told a conference in the city of Tianjin the impact of the trade war on China's economy was not significant, but the fallout on stock and currency markets needed to be monitored.