In This Article:
* Dollar firm and stocks under pressure
* Asia ex-Japan index down 1%, Nikkei off month high
* Asian stock markets: https://tmsnrt.rs/2zpUAr4
By Tom Westbrook and Pete Schroeder
SINGAPORE/WASHINGTON, July 14 (Reuters) - Asian stock markets slipped on Tuesday, oil sagged and a safety bid supported the dollar as simmering Sino-U.S. tensions and fresh coronavirus restrictions in California kept a lid on investor optimism as earnings season gets underway.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 1.2%. Japan's Nikkei retreated from a one-month high touched on Monday, dropping 0.8%. A firm dollar put pressure on the Aussie and kiwi.
The moves came after a selloff on Wall Street that followed reopening rollbacks in California, where Governor Gavin Newsom ordered bars closed and restaurants and movie theatres to cease indoor operations.
S&P 500 futures were flat in Asia after the index lost 0.9% on Monday.
Meanwhile tension grew between the United States and China. The United States on Monday rejected China's disputed claims to offshore resources in most of the South China Sea - a shift in tone which prompted a rebuke from Beijing.
The Trump Administration also plans on scrapping a 2013 auditing agreement that could foreshadow a broader crackdown on U.S.-listed Chinese firms, as friction between the world's two largest economies generates heat on a broad front.
"It's not just the tempo which is picking up, but the aspect of so many areas being pulled in to the dispute," said Vishnu Varathan, head of economics at Mizuho Bank in Singapore.
"Last time it was really about the bottom line," he said, but now what had been primarily a trade dispute ranges across political and strategic dimensions, making a resolution less likely and the next moves less predictable.
California's return to restrictions also has markets on edge about whether the virus can wreak more economic harm, as total infections surged by a million in five days and now top 13 million.
Oil prices, a proxy for global energy consumption and therefore growth expectations, reflected the growing worries. U.S crude futures fell 2% to $39.23 per barrel and Brent futures fell 1.8% to $41.94 per barrel.
ALL ABOUT 2021
The pullback in risk assets remains modest but has, at least temporarily, knocked the wind from the frothiest sections of the markets.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq shed 2% on Monday and shares of Tesla ended down 3%, tapping the brakes on a rally that has boosted the electric car maker's stock by more than 40% in two weeks.