BY RAE WEE
SINGAPORE- US Treasury yields regained some lost ground on Wednesday after the House of Representatives advanced President Donald Trump’s tax-cut agenda, while the dollar and oil prices struggled on mounting worries over US growth.
US stock futures rebounded after a mixed session on Wall Street, with Nasdaq futures rising 0.6 percent, while S&P 500 futures gained 0.4 percent.
In Asia, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan advanced 1.14 percent, helped by a rally in Chinese markets. Japan’s Nikkei fell 0.4 percent.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index surged more than 3 percent, with the Hang Seng Tech index also rising 4.75 percent.
The CSI300 blue-chip index <. CSI300> edged 0.6 percent higher, while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.74 percent.
Chinese stocks have been on a tear over the past few weeks, driven by DeepSeek’s AI breakthrough that reignited investor interest in China’s technology capabilities.
However, the rally hit a speed bump earlier this week on news that the Trump administration plans to tighten semiconductor curbs on China and after the US president signed a memorandum directing the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US to restrict Chinese investments in strategic areas.
“It is recklessly complacent to brush off all tariff threats from the US as a bluff that is meant as leverage,” said Vishnu Varathan, head of macro research for Asia ex-Japan at Mizuho.
“Especially not in China’s case. Fact is, the US intends to inflict significant industrial pain that compromises technological advantage and manufacturing clout or capacity.”
EUROSTOXX 50 futures similarly edged 0.66 percent higher, while FTSE futures tacked on 0.7 percent. DAX futures jumped 0.84 percent.
