Asia markets rose after Wall Street gained for a third straight day as tech stocks rallied, with investors assessing the trade climate as the U.S. tones down tariff rhetoric and China reportedly mulls suspending tariffs.
China may waive its 125% tariff on certain U.S. goods, Bloomberg reported citing sources familiar with the matter. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was 0.24% higher, closing at 21,963.09 while mainland China’s CSI 300 traded flat to close at 3,786.99.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 1.9% to close at 35,705.74 and the Topix added 1.37% to end the trading day at 2,628.03. South Korea’s Kospi climbed 0.95% to close at 2,546.3 while the small-cap Kosdaq rose 0.5% to close at 729.69 as South Korea also reportedly inches closer to striking a trade deal with the U.S.
Australian markets are closed for a holiday.
Futures linked to the S&P 500 were 0.3% higher, while Nasdaq-100 futures gained 0.4%. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average hovered around the flatline.
Overnight stateside, the three major averages closed higher thanks to strong gains in megacap tech names, as investors continued to look for signs of progress on the global trade front.
The S&P 500 ended up 2.03% at 5,484.77, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite added 2.74% to finish at 17,166.04. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lagged the other two indexes, weighed down by a 6.6% drop in IBM, but still added 486.83 points, or 1.23%, at 40,093.40.
Shares of Nvidia, Meta, Amazon, Tesla and Microsoft all closed higher, propelling the major averages to their third day of gains in a row
“Investors are becoming more comfortable with the uncertainties of tariffs as earnings roll in,” said Louis Navellier, chairman and founder of Navellier & Associates. “The market seems to be positioning itself for a near-term reduction in the current sky-high China tariffs,” he added.
