BUZZ-Life sciences firms fall as China hikes tariff on US imports

** Shares of some life sciences companies down as China announced an increase in tariffs on U.S. imports to 84% from 34%, shortly after President Donald Trump's punitive 104% tariffs on Chinese imports kicked in on Wednesday

** Shares of QuidelOrtho QDEL.O fall 1.6%, Thermo Fisher Scientific TMO.N down 1.4%, Bio-Techne TECH.O down 1.7%

** Bio-Rad Laboratories BIO.N down 1.2%, Danaher DHR.N down 1%

** Brokerage RBC Capital Markets says both DHR and QDEL have 12% of their revenue coming from China

** Adds, BIO has 8% exposure to China, while TECH and TMO both have 9% exposure to the region

** RBC says the rollout of China's equipment stimulus package announced in March 2024 could be impacted by the new tariffs

** China's cabinet approved the equipment stimulus package to promote large-scale equipment upgrades and replacement of old consumer goods with new ones

** Including session's move, QDEL down 42.3% YTD, DHR down 24.1%, TMO down 19.8%

(Reporting by Christy Santhosh)

((Christy.Santhosh@thomsonreuters.com))