Hong Kong (AFP) – Asian markets mostly rose Friday in line with a rally on Wall Street as traders were buoyed by news that US President Donald Trump’s latest reciprocal tariffs would not likely be implemented until April, giving time for negotiations. The president has unveiled a range of hardball measures to bring an end to what he says is years of countries taking advantage of the United States, fuelling trade war fears and leading to warnings of another inflation spike.
However, investor sentiment has largely held up on hopes that many of the tariffs can be rolled back with negotiations, while Trump’s announcement of plans to hold Ukraine peace talks with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin has added some optimism. The Republican said Thursday he decided to impose fresh reciprocal duties on trading partners, telling reporters that US allies were often “worse than our enemies” on trade, calling the European Union “absolutely brutal.” “Whatever countries charge the United States of America, we will charge them,” he added.
However, commerce secretary nominee Howard Lutnick said studies on where and who to hit should be completed by April 1, and the tariffs could start the day after, providing some relief to investors. “Tariff ambiguity still reigns, but markets are currently drawing some comfort from the news,” said National Australia Bank’s head of forex research and markets Ray Attrill. The move came days after Trump signed executive orders imposing 25 percent tariffs on steel and aluminium, due to come into effect on March 12. Observers said there appeared to be a feeling on trading floors that the measures were being used as a negotiating tactic by the White House.
Asian markets enjoyed a broadly positive end to the week. Hong Kong gained more than three percent as tech firms extended their recent surge, boosted by a Bloomberg report that China had invited Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma and other top entrepreneurs to meet Beijing’s top brass, fuelling hopes of fresh support for the private sector. Alibaba piled on 6.3 percent, while JD.com and Tencent each rose more than seven percent. Shanghai, Sydney, Seoul, Wellington, and Jakarta were also well up.
Tokyo dropped despite an 8.7 percent surge in Sony following a healthy earnings report as well as rallies in Nissan and Honda a day after they confirmed the scrapping of merger talks. Singapore, Bangkok, Mumbai, and Taipei also fell. London and Paris opened lower, while Frankfurt came off Thursday’s record high. Wall Street provided a strong lead thanks to a rally in the tech sector. The S&P 500 ended just short of a record and the Nasdaq put on more than two percent. New York traders were largely unmoved by a forecast-topping rise in US wholesale prices last month, which followed Wednesday’s report on the consumer price index that also came in above expectations and dented hopes for another interest rate cut.
– Key figures around 0815 GMT –
Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.8 percent at 39,149.43 (close)
Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 3.7 percent at 22,620.33 (close)
Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.4 percent at 3,346.72 (close)
London – FTSE 100: DOWN 0.3 percent at 8,740.14
Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0465 from $1.0467 on Thursday
Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2566 from $1.2586
Dollar/yen: DOWN at 152.72 yen from 152.76 yen
Euro/pound: DOWN at 83.26 pence from 83.28 pence
West Texas Intermediate: UP 0.5 percent at $71.63 per barrel
Brent North Sea Crude: UP 0.6 percent at $75.45 per barrel
New York – Dow: UP 0.8 percent at 44,711.43 (close)
© 2024 AFP
