Hong Kong (AFP) – Equities swung in Asian trade on Tuesday as investors weighed fresh AI fears and the US Supreme Court’s decision to strike down a large part of Donald Trump’s tariffs policy. Markets in the region have largely taken in stride the judges’ announcement that the president was not able to use a certain act to impose his sweeping levies, with some countries benefiting from the lower tolls he later unveiled under a separate authority.
It has, however, raised questions about trade deals Washington has agreed since Trump’s “Liberation Day” bombshell in April, with the European Union demanding clarity on the issue before ratifying its agreement. On Monday, Trump said on social media that countries that “play games” in the aftermath of the ruling, “will be met with a much higher Tariff, and worse, than that which they just recently agreed to”. Japan said Tuesday that it would stick to a pact agreed last year.
Observers said 2026 could see more tariff-based friction but they did not expect it to be as painful for markets as last year’s upheaval. “While the legal ‘means’ through which tariffs are implemented may change, the macroeconomic ‘ends’ will remain largely the same,” said Michael Brown at Pepperstone. “Hence, the overall impact on growth, unemployment, inflation, or any other economic variable, as well as on the monetary and fiscal outlooks, should prove minimal at most.”
Sentiment in Asia was dragged Tuesday, however, by renewed concerns about the impact of artificial intelligence on the tech sector, with software firms again in the firing line. The latest blow came from a report Sunday by a firm called Citrini Research that used possible scenarios set in the future showing parts of the global economy that could be at risk from new tools, such as credit card and food delivery firms. Adding to the downbeat mood was a post by Anthropic saying its Claude chatbot could help to update the COBOL programming language used on IBM computers. IBM fell more than 13 percent in New York.
“One minute, investors were gaming Supreme Court rulings and 15 percent blanket levies…the next, they were pricing in the possibility that code writes code and legacy business models become museum pieces,” said Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management. The releases come after Anthropic earlier this month unveiled a model that could replace numerous software tools, including for legal work and data marketing. That compounded fears that had already been mounting over the vast sums companies such as Microsoft and Meta have been spending on AI infrastructure and when investors will see returns, if ever.
Still, while all three main indexes on Wall Street sank at least one percent, Asia fared slightly better, though there were nerves. Seoul, the standout market this year thanks to a shift into chip giants such as Samsung and SK hynix, climbed more than one percent to another record, while Tokyo also advanced as it reopened after a long weekend. Shanghai returned from a week-long holiday to rally, with Wellington, Taipei and Jakarta also faring well. However, Hong Kong, Sydney, Singapore and Manila retreated.
The risk-off outlook helped safe-haven gold hold Monday’s rally, with the precious metal sitting around $5,200, while bitcoin was stuck just above $64,000, having dropped from around $68,000.
– Key figures at around 0230 GMT –
Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 0.8 percent at 57,256.55 (break)
Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 1.7 percent at 26,631.94
Shanghai – Composite: UP 1.0 percent at 4,123.20
Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1782 from $1.1792 on Monday
Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3490 from $1.3492
Euro/pound: DOWN at 87.33 pence from 87.40 pence
Dollar/yen: UP at 154.95 yen from 154.68 yen
West Texas Intermediate: UP 0.2 percent at $66.44 per barrel
Brent North Sea Crude: UP 0.2 percent at $71.63 per barrel
New York – Dow: DOWN 1.7 percent at 48,804.06 (close)
London – FTSE 100: FLAT at 10,684.74 (close)
© 2024 AFP
