London (AFP) – European stock markets and the dollar steadied Tuesday after kicking off the week with strong gains as investors basked in the glow of the China-US tariff suspension. Asian equities, catching up with big advances Monday on Wall Street, saw further rallies Tuesday, although Hong Kong dropped nearly two percent on profit-taking. Oil prices firmed further on hopes that the global economy would avoid a tariffs-fuelled recession.
“European markets are making moderate gains…as stocks take a breather after yesterday’s widespread exuberance,” noted Joshua Mahony, analyst at Scope Markets. “The tariff breakthrough seen over the weekend managed to outperform even the most optimistic.” The United States agreed to temporarily reduce its 145-percent duties on China to 30 percent, while Beijing cut its retaliatory measures to 10 percent from 125 percent. Wall Street’s main indices surged by an average of around 3.5 percent Monday, while a gauge of US-listed Chinese stocks surged more than five percent.
“Clearly, US-China trade talks have yielded much faster success than many had expected,” HSBC strategists concluded in a note to clients. They cautioned that “things could easily turn out a bit bumpier in future trade negotiations.”
On the corporate front, focus was on the auto sector after major news out of Japan. Nissan posted a annual net loss of $4.5 billion, confirmed plans to slash 15 percent of its global workforce and warned about the possible impact of US tariffs. The carmaker, whose mooted merger with Honda collapsed this year, is heavily indebted and engaged in an expensive business restructuring plan. For its part, Honda on Tuesday forecast a 70 percent drop in net profit for the 2025-26 financial year. “The impact of tariff policies in various countries on our business has been very significant, and frequent revisions are being made, making it difficult to formulate an outlook,” said Honda chief executive Toshihiro Mibe. French automaker Renault said it expects to book a 2.2-billion-euro ($2.4-billion) hit in the first quarter owing to partner Nissan’s turnaround plan, which sees 20,000 jobs axed.
Key figures at around 1035 GMT:
London – FTSE 100: UP 0.1 percent at 8,616.31 points
Paris – CAC 40: UP 0.1 percent at 7,854.70
Frankfurt – DAX: UP 0.2 percent at 23,601.09
Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 1.4 percent at 38,183.26 (close)
Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 1.9 percent at 23,108.27 (close)
Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.2 percent at 3,374.87 (close)
New York – Dow: UP 2.8 percent at 42,410.10 (close)
Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1106 from $1.1089 on Monday
Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3214 from $1.3173
Dollar/yen: DOWN at 148.02 yen from 148.38 yen
Euro/pound: DOWN at 84.05 pence from 84.18 pence
Brent North Sea Crude: UP 0.7 percent at $65.42 per barrel
West Texas Intermediate: UP 0.8 percent at $62.45 per barrel
© 2024 AFP
