TOKYO — Asian shares climbed and the dollar held gains on Tuesday as trade talks remained in the spotlight in a week that will see key readings on US inflation and bank earnings.
Oil prices edged lower after US President Donald Trump issued a 50-day deadline for Russia to end the war in Ukraine to avoid energy sanctions. Nasdaq futures <NQc1> got a bounce after Nvidia said it will resume sales of its H20 chips to China.
Trump signalled he was open to discussions on tariffs after his weekend threat to impose 30 percent duties on the European Union and Mexico from August 1. Japan is reportedly trying to schedule high-level talks with the US this Friday.
Market reaction to the tariff uncertainty has been rather benign, making earnings in the United States this week all the more important for cues, said National Australia Bank strategist Rodrigo Catril.
“It’ll be interesting to see what companies are saying, in particular in terms of the forward-looking outlook, in terms of where they see the next quarter, how they see their margins, are they going to get squeezed, or are they planning to pass it on,” Catril said in a NAB podcast.
“I think that this idea of complacency is also because we’re not quite sure how this whole thing is going to play out,” he added.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.4 percent, while Japan’s Nikkei gauge added 0.2 percent.
The EU accused the US of resisting efforts to strike a trade deal and warned of countermeasures if no agreement is reached. Trump said he was open to talks with the EU and other trading partners.
Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba is arranging to meet US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in Tokyo on Friday, the Yomiuri newspaper reported, ahead of an August 1 deadline before 25 percent tariffs are due to take effect.
Ishiba also has an election to contend with on Sunday, with polls showing his ruling coalition may lose its majority in the upper house to political opponents who are advocating for expansive spending. Japanese government bonds plunged, with the benchmark 10-year yield rising to 1.595 percent, the highest since October 2008.
Data showed China’s economy slowed less than expected in the second quarter in a show of resilience against US tariffs. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is scheduled to visit the country on Wednesday with his company now planning to resume sales of its H20 artificial intelligence chips in the market.
