Hong Kong (AFP) – Tech firms led another rally in Hong Kong stocks Wednesday after US titan Nvidia said it would resume exports of key chips to China after Washington pledged to remove licensing curbs. However, other Asian markets were mixed as they weighed Indonesia’s trade deal with Washington and a spike in US inflation that saw investors pare their bets on Federal Reserve interest rate cuts.
California-based Nvidia, one of the world’s most valuable companies, said Tuesday it will restart sales of its H20 artificial intelligence semiconductors to China, having been stopped by US President Donald Trump’s tightened export licensing requirements in April. CEO Jensen Huang said they would be shipping “very soon”. The news boosted tech firms around the world, with Wall Street’s Nasdaq rising to another record high, while the S&P 500 and Dow fell.
In Hong Kong, Chinese tech giants Alibaba, JD.com, and Tencent jumped to push the Hang Seng Index up around one percent. However, the rest of Asia was mixed, with Tokyo, Shanghai, Sydney, Seoul, and Manila falling, while Singapore, Wellington, Taipei, and Jakarta rose. The gains in Indonesia came after Trump said a trade deal had been struck with the Southeast Asian country that will see Washington impose tariffs of 19 percent on its goods, below the 32 percent previously threatened. US shipments will not be taxed.
The news means the Trump administration has now announced deals with three countries, but around two dozen are still in the pipeline just over two weeks ahead of the president’s August 1 deadline. Some have suggested that a healthy run-up on Wall Street over the past few weeks could be giving him confidence to keep the threats up. The president also warned Tuesday that he could begin imposing tolls on imports of semiconductors and pharmaceuticals from August 1.
Investor confidence was dented by data showing US inflation jumped to 2.7 percent last month, sharply up from 2.4 percent in May and more than forecast as Trump’s tariffs began to kick in. The data saw the probability of a Fed rate cut in September slip to just a little higher than 50 percent. That came as Dallas Fed president Lorie Logan said, “monetary policy needs to hold tight for a while longer to bring inflation sustainably back to target — and in this base case, we can sustain maximum employment even with modestly restrictive policy”. Still, she added in prepared remarks that, “It’s also possible that some combination of softer inflation and a weakening labour market will call for lower rates fairly soon.”
While markets are generally on an uptrend, Vincenzo Vedda, global chief investment officer at DWS, warned of possible bumps in the road. “The short-term future could…hold a significant market correction, since prevailing risk factors have not suddenly disappeared after all,” he wrote in a commentary. “Trump’s Beautiful Big Bill will inflate the US budget deficit, and long-term interest rates are set to rise. Tariffs are not completely off the table, either driving or containing inflation — the latter if economic growth is dampened. Substantial geopolitical risks are an additional factor.”
– Key figures at around 0230 GMT –
Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.1 percent at 39,642.40
Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 1.0 percent at 24,829.23
Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 0.1 percent at 3,501.04
Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1615 from $1.1606 on Tuesday
Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3398 from $1.3383
Dollar/yen: DOWN at 148.83 yen from 148.85 yen
Euro/pound: DOWN at 86.68 pence from 86.69 pence
West Texas Intermediate: UP 0.6 percent at $66.91 per barrel
Brent North Sea Crude: UP 0.4 percent at $69.00 per barrel
New York – Dow: DOWN 1.0 percent at 44,023.29 (close)
London – FTSE 100: DOWN 0.7 percent at 8,938.32 (close)
© 2024 AFP
