Gold sells off amid reports of trade talks progress

Asian pharmaceutical stocks dropped on Monday after US President Donald Trump said he would cut drug prices “almost immediately”.

Trump said that at 9am on Monday in Washington he would “be signing one of the most consequential Executive Orders in our Country’s history. Prescription Drug and Pharmaceutical prices will be REDUCED, almost immediately, by 30% to 80%.”

Shares in Samsung Biologics, SK Biopharmaceuticals and BeiGene dropped 4 per cent, 2.5 per cent and 7.9 per cent, respectively. In India, Sun Pharma fell more than 5 per cent to lead losses on the benchmark Nifty 50 index.

Trump said drug prices would “rise throughout the World in order to equalize and . . . bring FAIRNESS TO AMERICA!”