SINGAPORE: Asia shares rose on Friday and global markets attempted a rebound after a brutal selloff, while gold reached a record as an escalation of global trade tensions left investors nervous and sparked a flight to safe-haven assets.
Relief over the likely aversion of a US government shutdown boosted stocks in early Asian trade, after Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer said he would vote to advance a Republican stopgap funding bill, signalling that his party would provide the necessary support.
US stock futures rose sharply in response, with the Nasdaq up 0.87% and S&P 500 futures advancing 0.7%.
EUROSTOXX 50 futures similarly edged up 0.04% and FTSE futures gained 0.1%. “For today, at least, this news from Congress is positive for market sentiment at this point,” said Alvin Tan, head of Asia FX strategy at RBC Capital Markets.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan traded 0.2% higher, though was on track to lose more than 2% for the week, as global trade disputes battered global stocks.
In the latest in a long list of tariff threats, US President Donald Trump said on Thursday he would hit imports of European wine and spirits with duties of 200% if the EU did not remove retaliatory surcharges on American whiskey and other products that come into effect next month.
“Trump is making it very clear that if anyone were to retaliate, his counter-escalation is going to be even sharper,” said Vishnu Varathan, head of macro research for Asia ex-Japan at Mizuho.
The latest developments sparked Thursday’s steep selloff on Wall Street and the confirmation that the S&P 500 was in a correction, just a week after the Nasdaq confirmed the same.
“I think Trump 2.0 is nothing like Trump 1.0. This time, the president seems prepared to let US markets and the economy suffer while he implements his ‘America first’ goals,” said Michael Strobaek, global chief investment officer at Lombard Odier.
Typical safe haven assets like gold have meanwhile been beneficiaries of the escalating trade war, as the yellow metal reached a record high of $2,990.09 an ounce on Friday.
It was on track to gain 2.6% for the week.
Elsewhere, Japan’s Nikkei reversed early losses to rise 0.12%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index similarly gained 1%, but was headed for a 2.3% weekly decline. China’s CSI300 blue-chip index advanced 1.4% and was set to rise 0.6% for the week.
Dollar trouble
The dollar regained some lost ground on Friday thanks to safe haven flows, but was not too far off recent lows as worries of an impending US recession kept pressure on the greenback.
The euro last traded 0.1% lower at $1.0841, while sterling fell 0.05% to $1.2944.
The euro has drawn additional support from Germany’s fiscal reset plan involving a 500 billion euro fund for infrastructure and sweeping changes to borrowing rules to revive growth and ramp up military spending in Europe’s largest economy.
Germany’s outgoing lower house of parliament will vote on the measures on March 18 before the formation of a new parliament on March 25.
Next week will also see a slew of central bank meetings including the US Federal Reserve, as investors await further guidance on the rate outlook amid uncertainty over Trump’s trade policies and their impact on US growth and inflation.
“Our assessment is the direction of travel is consistent, rates will go lower. It’s just a question of timing, when they get to do it,” said Mizuho’s Varathan.
“I think eventually, the tariffs will be an inconvenience, not an impediment to the Fed cuts, because even if the prices go up… it is a negative demand shock and people are worse off, not better off.”
Stocks gain after mild US inflation; yields buoyed by trade tensions
The dollar was last up 0.3% against the yen at 148.25, though was set for a slight weekly loss against the Japanese currency as bets for more Bank of Japan (BOJ) rate hikes ramp up. The BOJ also meets next week.
In commodities, oil prices were higher after falling in the previous session.
Brent futures rose 0.54% to $70.26 a barrel. US West Texas Intermediate crude futures tacked on 0.6% to $66.96 per barrel.
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