Asia open: market sentiment was decidedly downbeat overnight - TDS

Analysts at TD Securities explained that market sentiment was decidedly downbeat amid renewed trade tensions after Larry Kudlow stated that the Trump administration had not softened its stance on China, walking back comments from other officials. 

Key Quotes:

"The S&P 500 closed 0.8% lower while the TSX fell 0.3%. Treasuries rallied by nearly 6bps in the long-end as the curve bull-flattened while Canadian rates were little changed after selling off into the close.

The USD pushed higher against G10 FX with DXY closing at its highest level since July 2017. EUR (-0.8%) and GBP (-0.8%) saw large pullbacks while NZD (-0.8%) weakened ahead of the RBNZ. USDCAD (+0.2%) climbed higher on Governor Poloz's speech but a more optimistic tone in the press conference unwound part of the move."