GLOBAL MARKETS-Shares falter after Trump takes aim at China tech firms

* Trump's ban on top China tech firms sours optimism
* MSCI ex-Japan Asia down 1.4%, Tencent falls 10%
* Hopes of U.S. stimulus bolster shares despite lack of
progress
* Gold hits record high before profit-taking
* European shares seen falling 0.3% at open

By Hideyuki Sano
TOKYO, Aug 7 (Reuters) - World stock markets tumbled on
Friday after U.S. President Donald Trump ratcheted up
already-heightened tensions with Beijing by banning U.S.
transactions with two popular Chinese apps, Tencent's WeChat and
ByteDance's Tiktok.
European stocks looked set to recede as well, with Euro
Stoxx 50 futures .STXEc1 falling 0.3%. S&P500 futures ESc1
slid 0.5%.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
.MIAPJ0000PUS lost 1.0% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng .HSI fell
1.8%. Tencent 0700.HK , Asia's second-biggest company by market
capitalisation, dropped as much as 10.1%.
Mainland China's CSI 300 Index .CSI300 fell 1.9% despit
strong export data, while Japan's Nikkei .N225 slipped 0.6%.
Trump issued the executive orders after his administration
said this week it was stepping up efforts to purge "untrusted"
Chinese apps from U.S. digital networks and called TikTok and
WeChat "significant threats."
Coming days after the United States ordered China to vacate
its consulate in Houston, the move looks set to trigger
retaliatory action by Beijing, stoking fears that a "silicon
curtain" is emerging between the two superpowers. "Perhaps China could block Apple or Microsoft from China.
The information sector growingly looks divided into two camps.
We could be seeing just the beginning of an information
technology war," said Nana Otsuki, chief analyst at Monex
Securities.
"Investors in the West would have to hesitate to invest in
China, missing growth opportunities there when there are not
many investment opportunities except perhaps except for Nasdaq."
The announcement dampened any excitement from China's trade
data, which showed exports surged 7.2% in July from a year
earlier, way above economists' forecast of 0.2% fall.
It also poured cold water on what had been a mildly positive
mood on hopes U.S. policymakers will finalise stimulus worth at
least $1 trillion to support the country's fragile economy.
On Wall Street on Thursday, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 0.64%
and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 1%, marking the fourth
straight day of record peaks.
The White House and Democrats remained far apart on the size
of the stimulus package and what to include. But that has not
shaken investors conviction of an eventual deal as they believe
the economy would falter without such support. The number of Americans seeking jobless benefits for the
first time fell last week but a staggering 31.3 million people
still received unemployment checks in mid-July, suggesting a
resurgence in COVID-19 cases is hampering hiring. Closely watched U.S. non-farm payrolls data, due at 1230
GMT, is expected to show an increase of 1.58 million in July,
compared to 4.8 million in June.
U.S. bond yields have flirted with historic lows, as
investors bet the Federal Reserve will keep monetary policy
loose for the foreseeable future.
The 10-year U.S. Treasuries yield US10YT=RR dipped 1.1
basis points to 0.5231%, near Thursday's five-month low of
0.504%.
Trend-following speculators appear to have been buying both
stock and bond futures, unusual behaviour as they normally tend
to rotate from one asset to another, said Masanari Takada,
cross-asset strategist at Nomura Securities.
"They seem to be aggressively buying both Treasuries futures
and Nasdaq futures, probably with high leverage, as market
volatility, especially that of Treasuries, has been so low. But
this suggests after they have bought everything, there is risk
they will sell everything," he said.
The prospects of a prolonged period of easy U.S. monetary
policy has been supporting various asset prices while depressing
the dollar.
Gold XAU= hit a record high of $2,075.2 per ounce XAU=
before succumbing to profit-taking to slip to $2,057.
Silver dropped 1.7% to $28.452 per ounce XAG= following
its ballistic rise to a seven-year high of $29.838.
The U.S. dollar, which has been in a clear downtrend since
late July, edged back against risk-sensitive currencies after
Trump's move.
The euro fell 0.3% to $1.1835 EUR= while the Australian
dollar shed 0.4% to $0.7207 AUD=D4 . The Chinese yuan eased
0.2% to 6.9675 per dollar CNY=CFXS .
Oil prices were little changed, with Brent futures LCOc1
down 0.1% at $45.04 per barrel.

(Editing by Lincoln Feast and Kim Coghill)