Asian shares rise after Trump’s surprise 90-day pause on some tariffs

Singapore — Asian shares climbed and a manic bond sell-off stabilised on Thursday after US President Donald Trump said he would temporarily lower the hefty duties he had just imposed on dozens of countries.

Following a days-long market rout that erased trillions of dollars from global stocks and jolted US treasury bonds and the dollar, Trump on Wednesday announced a 90-day pause on many of his new tariffs in a shock reversal.

But US stock futures and the dollar were left out of Thursday’s relief rally despite an overnight surge on Wall Street, as investors’ confidence in the US administration crumbles and the “sell America” trade heats up.

“The world, political and financial, is looking on with horror, not bemusement, at an administration that prioritises the signing of an executive order for more water-power in shower heads, on the same day that the bond market breaks and investors question the long-term credibility of the administration having flip flopped on the largest of their policies, tariffs,” said Martin Whetton, head of financial markets strategy at Westpac.

Nasdaq futures slid more than 1% after a brief rally early in the Asian session, while S&P 500 futures sank 0.75%.

Both indices had clocked their biggest daily percentage gains in more than a decade during Wednesday’s cash session.

The dollar fell 0.7% against the yen and 0.6% against the Swiss franc, failing to sustain its sharp overnight jump against the two safe-haven currencies, highlighting market uncertainty over the longer-term outlook.

“I think the initial move was just massive short cover, and this has given the world a bit of a breathing space, except for China ... because markets were starting to price in the worst-case scenario,” said Khoon Goh, head of Asia research at ANZ.

“But now that the dust has settled, I think markets will seem to sort of figure out where to go from here.”

In the broader market, Japan’s Nikkei and European futures were among the standout winners of the rally in Asia.

The Nikkei surged 8%, Eurostoxx 50 futures and DAX futures climbed roughly 8% each, while FTSE futures jumped 5.4%.

Trump’s reversal on the country-specific tariffs is not absolute. A 10% blanket duty on almost all US imports would remain in effect, the White House said. The announcement also does not appear to affect duties on cars, steel and aluminium that are already in place.

He also heaped pressure on China, saying he would raise the tariff on Chinese imports to 125% from the 104% level that came into effect on Wednesday.

China on Wednesday raised additional duties on US products to 84% and imposed restrictions on 18 US companies, mostly in defence-related industries.

Yet investors for now seemed to view the latest escalation of Sino-US trade tension with a narrow lens, choosing merely to focus on the 90-day window Trump has granted to the rest of the world.

China’s CSI300 blue-chip index was up 1%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index advanced 2.2%.

“I guess at least the relief is now global trade won’t grind to a complete halt,” said Wong Kok Hoong, head of equity sales trading at Maybank.

“The China + 1 supply chain route [is] still intact. As the rest of the world will be at workable 10% tariffs for 90 days, companies/businesses have time/alternatives to adjust supply chain routes.”

But the move in the yuan painted a different story as the onshore unit fell to its weakest level since December 2007 at 7.3518 to the dollar.

Before market opening, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) set the midpoint rate, around which the yuan is allowed to trade in a 2% band, at its lowest level since September 11 2023.

Bonds sell-off

A steep sell-off in bonds this week also showed some signs of easing on Thursday.

The benchmark 10-year treasury yield dropped to 4.2774%, having touched a high of 4.5150% in the previous session and rising about 13 basis points (bps).

A violent US treasury sell-off in the previous sessions, evoking the Covid-era “dash for cash”, had reignited fears of fragility in the world’s biggest bond market.

“Sticky inflation, a patient [Federal Reserve], potential foreign buyer boycotts, hedge fund deleveraging, rebalancing out of bonds into cash, and an illiquid treasury market are all reasons why treasury yields continue to move higher,” said Lawrence Gillum, chief fixed income strategist at LPL Financial.

Fed policymakers signalled they will not be quick to ride to the rescue with interest rate cuts because they expect higher tariffs to boost inflation, even as they worry Trump’s trade policy could deal a blow to economic growth, minutes of the central bank’s mid-March meeting out on Wednesday showed.

Markets are now pricing in just about 80bps of rate cuts by December, down from more than 100bps earlier in the week.

Elsewhere, oil prices fell as investors fretted about the worsening US-China trade war.

Spot gold extended its climb and was last up 1.5% at $3,128.92/oz.

Reuters