⁍ Australian share price index futures fell 0.4% or 24 points.

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⁍ The benchmark closed 1.7% lower on Tuesday.

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⁍ New Zealand’s benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index fell 0.1% in early trade.

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– Asian markets tumbled and US stock futures were off their highs on Wednesday after President Trump suggested that China was to blame for the global financial crisis. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index dived 2.1%, South Korea’s Kospi Index fell 1.7%, and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index dropped 0.4% in early trading, per Reuters. Trump, speaking at the G7 summit in Italy, said that China was to blame for the crisis in the Middle East and North Korea, which he called a “horrible, horrible mess.” He said he had spoken to Chinese President Xi Jinping about the “horrible situation in the Middle East and North Korea,” but that he had not yet spoken to his Chinese counterpart. “I have not yet had a conversation with the President of the Chinese,” Trump said. “But I have spoken to the President of the Chinese, and the President of the Chinese Communist Party talked to the President of the Chinese.”