Asian stocks sank Tuesday on fresh trade war worries after China imposed curbs on US units of a Korean shipbuilder, dealing a blow to hopes that a flare-up at the weekend had been settled.Losses were felt most in Tokyo, where Japanese political turmoil added to the mix, with questions being raised about the chances of Sanae Takaishi becoming the country’s first woman prime minister.Markets have been whipsawed in recent days after Donald Trump on Friday lashed out at Beijing over its curbs on rare earths, fanning fears he will reignite their trade war following a months-long truce.Traders breathed a sigh of relief Sunday, though, when he shifted his tone by insisting in a social media post that “it will all be fine”, and adding that he wanted to “help” China.That was enough for US dealers to return to the market at the start of this week, with all three main indexes on Wall Street rallying.Asia’s losses were limited Monday, but after a healthy start Tuesday markets sank again after China sanctioned five US subsidiaries of South Korea’s Hanwha Ocean, accusing them of supporting a Washington probe into the shipping industry.The United States earlier this year carried out a “Section 301” investigation that found Beijing’s dominance in the industry was unreasonable and imposed port fees, sparking tit-for-tat measures by China.The commerce ministry in Beijing said Tuesday in a statement: “The United States’ investigation and subsequent measures “severely damage the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises.”The subsidiaries “assisted and supported the relevant investigation activities of the US government, endangering China’s sovereignty, security and development interests”, it said. Markets across Asia tumbled, with Hong Kong off almost two percent, while Shanghai, Singapore, Seoul, Wellington, Taipei, Mumbai, Bangkok and Jakarta also retreated.Shares in Hanwha dropped more than five percent in Seoul.The selling also came amid growing concerns that the AI-fuelled rally in stocks this year — which has helped push several markets and companies to record highs — may have been overdone and a bubble is forming.”Given the recent rally, positioning was stretched (and) any bad news is a cue to sell risk…which indicates the market is looking for an excuse for a selloff,” said Neil Wilson of Saxo markets.”The extent of the selling could be the cue for the last bears to throw in the towel.”Tokyo dived three percent at one point as investors returned from a long weekend also focusing on political uncertainty in Japan, where the ruling coalition collapsed Friday as junior partner Komeito quit the alliance.The move imperilled Takaichi’s chances of becoming premier, having been elected the ruling party’s leader this month. Stocks had surged after her election on hopes she will unveil fresh stimulus measures and push for looser monetary policies.It was reported at the weekend that Komeito will seek to support a unified candidate with other groups in a bid to stop Takaichi — who needs approval from parliament — from becoming premier. In commodities trade, gold and silver sank soon after they both touched records.Silver had earlier in the day struck a peak of $52.90 as investors sought other safe havens as gold continued to hit new highs, at point reaching $4,179.70.Oil was also sharply lower on renewed worries about a revival of the China-US trade war.- Key figures at around 0715 GMT -Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 2.6 percent at 46,847.32 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 1.8 percent at 25,429.61 Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 0.6 percent at 3,865.23 (close)London – FTSE 100: DOWN 0.4 percent at 9,403.54 Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1567 from $1.1568 on MondayPound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3275 from $1.3332Dollar/yen: DOWN at 151.91 yen from 152.31 yenEuro/pound: UP at 87.15 pence from 86.77 penceWest Texas Intermediate: DOWN 1.0 percent at $58.89 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: DOWN 1.0 percent at $62.69 per barrelNew York – Dow: UP 1.3 percent at 46,067.58 (close)

Google said Tuesday it will invest $15 billion in India over the next five years, as it announced a giant data centre and artificial intelligence base in the country.”It is the largest AI hub that we are investing in anywhere outside of the US,” Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian said at a ceremony in New Delhi.Demand for AI tools and solutions is surging among businesses and individuals in India, which is projected to have more than 900 million internet users by year’s end.Kurian announced “capital investment of $15 billion” over the five years and a “gigawatt-scale AI hub in Visakhapatnam”, a port city in the southeastern state of Andhra Pradesh.Google plans for the centre to scale to multiple gigawatts, he added, comparing the project to “a digital backbone connecting different parts of India together”.Globally, data centres are an area of phenomenal growth, fuelled by the need to store massive amounts of digital data, and to train and run energy-intensive AI tools.Google chief Sundar Pichai said on X that he had spoken to Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the “landmark development”.”This hub combines gigawatt-scale compute capacity, a new international subsea gateway, and large-scale energy infrastructure,” he wrote.”Through it we will bring our industry-leading technology to enterprises and users in India, accelerating AI innovation and driving growth across the country.”- ‘Data is the new oil’ -India’s Information Technology Minister, Ashwini Vaishnaw, thanked Google for the investment.”This digital infrastructure will go a long way in meeting the goals of our India AI vision,” he said.Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu called it a “very happy day”. The state’s Technology Minister Nara Lokesh said on X that the deal followed “a year of intense discussions and relentless effort”.Lokesh, speaking at the announcement, said that “data is the new oil and data centres are the new refineries”.”This is about India playing an important role on the global landscape,” he added.Recently top American AI firms looking to court users in the world’s fifth-largest economy have made a flurry of announcements about expanding into the country.This month US startup Anthropic said it plans to open an office in India next year, with its chief executive Dario Amodei meeting Prime Minister Modi.Modi, in a post on X, told Amodei that “India’s vibrant tech ecosystem and talented youth are driving AI innovation”, adding that he wanted to “harness AI for growth”.OpenAI has said it will open an India office later this year, with its chief Sam Altman noting that ChatGPT usage in the country had grown fourfold over the past year.AI firm Perplexity also announced a major partnership in July with Indian telecom giant Airtel, offering the company’s 360 million customers a free one-year Perplexity Pro subscription.