Asian stock markets largely gained Tuesday, as investors generally shrugged off the latest round of U.S. tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods set to go into effect next week.
Read: Trump to impose another $200 billion in tariffs on Chinese goods
Chinese stocks gained after a rough stretch, showing scant initial reaction to the U.S. confirming that another round of import tariffs are on the way. The Shanghai Composite SHCOMP, +1.82% , after notching a nearly four-year closing low Monday, bounced back to gain 1.8%. The smaller-cap Shenzhen Composite 399106, +1.68% rose nearly 1.7%.
Hong Kong stocks recovered Tuesday, having dropped in 10 of 14 trading days, with the Hang Seng HSI, +0.56% up nearly 0.6%. There were trouble spots, however. Tencent 0700, -0.38% slipped 0.4%, while Macau casino stocks wavered as the enclave gets up and running after Sunday’s typhoon prompted a day-long closure of the facilities. Nomura is predicting that the storm will cut this month’s gross-gaming revenue growth by some 5 percentage points. The investment bank had been predicting mid-teens growth in September for the metric before typhoon Mangkhut’s arrival.
After a holiday Monday, trading resumed in Japan with the Nikkei NIK, +1.41% jumping 1.4% to hit fresh 7½-month highs. Big insurers contributed, including a more than 4% gain for Dai-ichi Life 8750, +4.17% and a 4.8% gain for T&D 8795, +4.83% as 10-year Treasury yields returned to 3%. Meanwhile, 10-year JGB yields TMBMKJP-10Y, +5.60% were up a half basis point at nearly 0.12%.
Tech names were weaker initially following the slide in the Nasdaq on Monday but some recovered, with TDK 6762, +1.11% ending up 1.1%. Tokyo Electron 8035, -0.31% initially fell about 2% before recovering somewhat to close down 0.3%. The dollar USDJPY, +0.22% continued to rebound, climbing to ¥111.80, also providing a boost to a number of Japanese export stocks.
South Korea’s Kospi SEU, +0.26% was up 0.3%, as the leaders of North and South Korea kicked off a three-day summit. Samsung 005930, +0.78% rose nearly 0.8%. Taiwan’s Taiex Y9999, -0.63% fell 0.6% as tech names such as Taiwan Semiconductor 2330, -1.36% and Largan Precision 3008, -9.92% tumbled.
Australia’s ASX 200 XJO, -0.38% dipped 0.3% as the energy sector continued its decline. Mining giant BHP Billiton BHP, -0.41% was down 0.4% as it announced it was dropping “Billiton” from its name. New Zealand’s benchmark NZ50GR, +0.48% rose slightly.
Stocks in Southeast Asia lagged, with benchmarks in Singapore STI, -0.07% and Malaysia FBMKLCI, -0.60% dropping slightly.
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