TOKYO- Asian equities rose on Tuesday following Wall Street’s overnight gains, while gold hit an all-time peak and Treasury yields fell as markets awaited details of US President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs.
The Japanese yen strengthened as traditional haven assets drew demand.
At the same time, the risk-sensitive Australian dollar rebounded after the Reserve Bank of Australia left interest rates steady, as widely expected, but warning of “pronounced” global uncertainty.
Regional stocks found some respite on the first day of April after being battered in March by worries that Trump’s trade war could trigger stagflation or even a US recession.
Investors are nervously awaiting April 2, a day Trump has dubbed “Liberation Day”, when he has promised to unveil a massive reciprocal tariff plan.
Australia’s benchmark equity index advanced 1 percent, while South Korea’s KOSPI climbed 1.9 percent and Taiwan’s equity benchmark rose 1.7 percent, following steep drops on Monday.
At the same time, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng and Japan’s Nikkei gave up gains of 1 percent or more to be flat to slightly higher. Mainland Chinese blue chips were also little changed after struggling all session.
Pan-European STOXX 50 futures added 0.35 percent.
The US S&P 500 gained 0.55 percent on Monday, snapping a three-day losing run, but futures pointed 0.34 percent lower.
“It is possible that a significant portion of last night’s rebound in the key (Wall Street) indices was attributable to month-end and quarter-end rebalancing flows, as well as short covering ahead of Trump’s Liberation Day, amid considerable uncertainty about what comes next,” said Tony Sycamore, an analyst at IG.
