A cruise ship next to the Hong Kong skyline on March 21, 2023 in Hong Kong, China. (Photo by Vernon Yuen/NurPhoto, Getty Images)
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Asia-Pacific markets were mixed on Tuesday as investors weighed the threat of new tariffs from U.S. President Donald Trump and concerns that artificial intelligence could disrupt software companies.
President Trump posted on Truth Social on Monday that countries that “want to play games” with the Supreme Court decision “will be subject to much higher tariffs.”
The comments followed Friday’s Supreme Court ruling invalidating tariffs enacted under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. In response, President Trump said he would impose a 15% tariff worldwide under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974.
“We expect changes to existing agreements to be limited, and we expect President Trump to use these tools to improve his bargaining position with countries negotiating agreements,” said Lorraine Tan, director of equity research at Morningstar, adding that she expects market reaction to remain subdued.
Investors in Asia also appreciated China’s loan prime rate decisions. The People’s Bank of China on Tuesday kept its benchmark lending rates unchanged at 3% for one-year LPR and 3.5% for five-year LPR.
The one-year LPR serves as a benchmark for new commercial loans, and the five-year LPR guides real estate loans.
Mainland markets rose 1.06% as markets reopened after the Lunar New Year holiday.
hong kong Hang Seng Index The stock fell 2%, led by healthcare stocks. love maker pop mart The company, which launched a new toy line on Monday, fell 5%, making it the index’s biggest loser.
Korean Kospi It rose 2.11% to end at 5,969.64. The index hit a new high for the third straight session, with the small-cap Kosdaq rising 1.13% to end at 1,165, helped by gains in chips.
The Taiwan-weighted index also rode the chip rally to lead Asian markets, rising 2.75% to a record high of 34,700.82. chip giant Taiwan semiconductor manufacturing company It rose more than 3.42%.
Japanese Nikkei Stock Average rose 0.87% to 57,321.09, while TOPIX rose 0.2% to end at 3,815.98.
australian S&P/ASX 200 It gave up its early rise and fell slightly to 9,022.3.
One night in America Dow Jones Industrial Average While the decline was 1.66%. Nasdaq Composite It fell by 1.13%. of S&P500 1.04% decrease.
Cybersecurity stocks fell for a second straight day on Monday as investors spooked about new artificial intelligence security tools that threaten to replace the cybersecurity industry’s long-standing business model.
Anthropic debuted a new security tool on its Claude model Friday in a limited research preview. AI Lab says the service can scan software code for vulnerabilities and suggest solutions. Anthropic is scheduled to hold a company information session Tuesday with new product announcements. Samantha Subin
Concerns about AI disruption weighed on the market, putting software stocks like Microsoft and CrowdStrike under pressure again. Microsoft fell 3% and CrowdStrike fell nearly 10%.
—CNBC’s Samantha Subin, Sean Conlon and Sarah Ming contributed to this report.
