Asian Mkts Stage Another Rally As US Exempts Select Electronic Goods
US futures also advanced after US stocks jumped on Fri; Wall St ends higher in chaotic and historic week
Asian Mkts Stage Another Rally As US Exempts Select Electronic Goods
Trump-led US govt said electronics such as phones and laptops would not be subject to the same high import duties as some other products. However, Chinese Ministry of Commerce said Trump’s move was ‘a small step’ toward fixing its wrongful action of what Trump calls reciprocal tariffs
Hong Kong: Asian markets rallied on Monday as tensions over trade eased slightly after US President Donald Trump said electronics such as phones and laptops would not be subject to the same high import duties as some other products.
US futures also advanced after US stocks jumped Friday. However, a weakening in the US dollar and lower oil prices hinted at persisting worries over the direction of Trump’s trade war. Japan’s Nikkei-225 rose 1.8 per cent to 34,189.37 and South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.8 per cent to 2,452.42. Shares in technology companies surged, with Tokyo Electron up two per cent and Advantest, a testing equipment maker, up 5.4 per cent. South Korea’s biggest company, Samsung Electronics, gained 1.4 per cent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng jumped 2.4 per cent to 21,419.59, while the Shanghai Composite index picked up 0.9 per cent to 3,266.26 after the government reported that China’s exports surged 12.4 per cent in March from a year earlier.
US President Donald Trump said he was exempting smartphones, computers and other electronics from his tariffs after China announced Friday that it was boosting its tariffs on US products to 125 per cent in the latest tit-for-tat increase following Trump’s escalations on imports from China.
The Chinese Ministry of Commerce said Trump’s move was ‘a small step’ toward fixing its wrongful action of what Trump calls reciprocal tariffs. It urged him to completely cancel them. Rising tensions between the world’s two largest economies could cause widespread damage and a possible global recession, even after Trump recently announced a 90-day pause on some of his tariffs for other countries, except for China.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 added 1.5 per cent to 7,758.70.
