Emerging Asia shares rallied on Friday, led by indexes in Manila and Taipei, on a potential de-escalation in trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies, while currencies in the region struggled for direction.
The Philippines share market touched its highest since March 21, reflecting the limited impact of US President Donald Trump’s tariff policies. The benchmark was also set for its best week since early March.
Analysts at JPMorgan Chase upgraded Manila stocks to an “overweight” rating earlier this week and called them a relative winner through the global upheaval triggered by Trump’s tariffs.
“We think the market is pricing in the Philippines’ resilient narrative amid limited impact of Trump 2.0 policies on economy and earnings,” said Estella DhelVillamiel, head of institutional equity research at First Metro Securities.
Equities in Taiwan jumped more than 2 percent, tracking a tech-led rally on Wall Street after strong earnings reports from Google-parent Alphabet and AI major ServiceNow.
Taiwan hosts some of the world’s largest chip manufacturers, such as TSMC, which gained 2.8 percent, boosting the broader index.
Stocks in Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok and South Korea rose 0.1 percent, 0.9 percent and 1 percent, respectively.
Currencies in Asian nations were mixed, while the dollar gained, with investors taking a cautious stance amid the Trump administration’s mixed signals on trade negotiations and comments on the Federal Reserve Chair.
During the week, the US shifted its tone on tariff deal with China by saying the situation was unsustainable and that Beijing was considering exempting some US imports from its 125 percent tariffs.
“A case of de-escalation narrative persisting for awhile more should not be ruled out and this can aid US dollar short covering, following the over 10 percent decline (at one point) since January peak,” said Christopher Wong, currency strategist at OCBC.
Wong, however, added that a broad bounce back in the US dollar may also see some Asian currencies, excluding Japan, come under pressure in the interim despite a conciliatory tone towards the trade deal.
