Equities in Asian emerging markets staged their biggest one-day rally in more than two years on Thursday and their currencies nudged up against the US dollar after President Donald Trump announced he would temporarily lower hefty tariff duties imposed on many countries.
The MSCI gauge of EM Asian stocks leapt 4 percent, on track for their biggest one-day gain since mid-November 2022, while a subset of Asean equities surged nearly 4 percent to mark their best day in more than four years.
Singapore’s FTSE Straits Times index jumped about 9 percent, while Indonesia’s benchmark gauge rebounded more than 5 percent in early trade.
Stocks in Malaysia rallied more than 4 percent – set for their biggest one-day gain since the onset of the pandemic five years ago. Philippine stocks rose over 2 percent.
Most currencies in the region also shot up: Malaysia’s ringgit, Thailand’s baht, and the Indonesian rupiah appreciated around 0.4 percent against the greenback, while Singapore’s dollarslipped by that much.
Trump’s shocking about-face on higher levies on trading partners less than 24 hours after they went into effect sent a wave of relief across markets after days-long massive turmoil, though lingering uncertainty and hefty China levies kept traders on the edge.
“The 90-day pause in reciprocal tariffs seems to reduce the likelihood that Emerging Asia is headed for its worst GDP (gross domestic product) outcomes in this highly fluid moment in global economic history,” analysts at Barclays wrote. “But it does not, in our view, mean that the region is out of the woods yet.”
