Japan's Nikkei falls on profit-taking
Tokio Marine Holdings sank 2.6% and triggered a decline in insurance companies after forecasting a 12% drop in annual profit. Mizuho surged 2.7%, leading banks higher after announcing a plan to shed cross-shareholdings.
The benchmark Nikkei has climbed 4.4% since US President Donald Trump announced sweeping tariffs on April 2, only to pause most of them as he sought bilateral trade deals.
'Stocks have been on a rise, but now that earnings have come to an end, I think there's a slight lack of catalysts in the market,' said Wataru Akiyama, a strategist at Nomura Securities.
'We may be seeing an adjustment in the stock market after the recent rally has led to short-term overheating.'
Japan's export-reliant economy and equity market are still vulnerable to how trade talks with the US pan out.
The nation's lead trade negotiator, Ryosei Akazawa, will head to the US on Friday for a third round of talks, the Nikkei newspaper reported.
Data on Wednesday showed Japanese exports rose for the seventh straight month in April but shipments to the US fell, highlighting the toll of Trump's tariffs.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Business Recorder
2 minutes ago
- Business Recorder
US, China extend tariff truce by 90 days, staving off surge in duties
WASHINGTON/BEIJING: The United States and China on Monday extended a tariff truce for another 90 days, staving off triple-digit duties on each other's goods as U.S. retailers get ready to ramp up inventories ahead of the critical end-of-year holiday season. U.S. President Donald Trump announced on his Truth Social platform that he had signed an executive order suspending the imposition of higher tariffs until 12:01 a.m. EST (0501 GMT) on November 10, with all other elements of the truce to remain in place. China's Commerce Ministry issued a parallel pause on extra tariffs early on Tuesday, also postponing for 90 days the addition of U.S. firms it had targeted in April to trade and investment restriction lists. 'The United States continues to have discussions with the PRC to address the lack of trade reciprocity in our economic relationship and our resulting national and economic security concerns,' Trump's executive order stated, using the acronym for the People's Republic of China. 'Through these discussions, the PRC continues to take significant steps toward remedying non-reciprocal trade arrangements and addressing the concerns of the United States relating to economic and national security matters.' The tariff truce between Beijing and Washington had been due to expire on Tuesday at 12:01 a.m. EDT (0401 GMT). The extension until early November buys crucial time for the seasonal autumn surge of imports for the Christmas season, including electronics, apparel and toys at lower tariff rates. The new order prevents U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods from shooting up to 145%, while Chinese tariffs on U.S. goods were set to hit 125% - rates that would have resulted in a virtual trade embargo between the two countries. It locks in place - at least for now - a 30% tariff on Chinese imports, with Chinese duties on U.S. imports at 10%. 'We'll see what happens,' Trump told a news conference earlier on Monday, highlighting what he called his good relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping. China said the extension was 'a measure to further implement the important consensus reached by the two heads of state during their June 5 call,' and would provide stability to the global economy. China says hopes US will strive for 'positive' trade outcomes Trump told CNBC last week that the U.S. and China were getting very close to a trade agreement and he would meet with Xi before the end of the year if a deal was struck. 'It's positive news,' said Wendy Cutler, a former senior U.S. trade official who is now a vice president at the Asia Society Policy Institute. 'Combined with some of the de-escalatory steps both the United States and China have taken in recent weeks, it demonstrated that both sides are trying to see if they can reach some kind of a deal that would lay the groundwork for a Xi-Trump meeting this fall.' Trade 'detente' continued The two sides in May announced a truce in their trade dispute after talks in Geneva, Switzerland, agreeing to a 90-day period to allow further talks. They met again in Stockholm, Sweden, in late July, and U.S. negotiators returned to Washington with a recommendation that Trump extend the deadline. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said repeatedly that the triple-digit import duties both sides slapped on each other's goods in the spring were untenable and had essentially imposed a trade embargo between the world's two largest economies. 'It wouldn't be a Trump-style negotiation if it didn't go right down to the wire,' said Kelly Ann Shaw, a senior White House trade official during Trump's first term and now with law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld. She said Trump had likely pressed China for further concessions before agreeing to the extension. Trump pushed for additional concessions on Sunday, urging China to quadruple its soybean purchases, although analysts questioned the feasibility of any such deal. Trump did not repeat the demand on Monday. 'The whole reason for the 90-day pause in the first place was to lay the groundwork for broader negotiations and there's been a lot of noise about everything from soybeans to export controls to excess capacity over the weekend,' Shaw said. Ryan Majerus, a former U.S. trade official now with the King & Spalding law firm, said the news would give both sides more time to work through longstanding trade concerns. Oil gains as US-China tariff pause extension boosts trade hopes 'This will undoubtedly lower anxiety on both sides as talks continue, and as the U.S. and China work toward a framework deal in the fall,' he said. Imports from China early this year had surged to beat Trump's tariffs, but dropped steeply in June, Commerce Department data showed last week. The U.S. trade deficit with China tumbled by roughly a third in June to $9.5 billion, its narrowest since February 2004. Over five consecutive months of declines, the U.S. trade gap with China has narrowed by $22.2 billion - a 70% reduction from a year earlier. Washington has also been pressing Beijing to stop buying Russian oil to pressure Moscow over its war in Ukraine, with Trump threatening to impose secondary tariffs on China.
Business Recorder
2 minutes ago
- Business Recorder
Indian equities set to open flat as traders eye domestic, US inflation data
Indian equity benchmarks are likely to open flat on Tuesday, chiming trends in broader Asian markets, as investors await domestic inflation data for July and a key U.S. inflation print that could influence near-term interest rate expectations. The Gift Nifty futures were trading at 24,599.5, as of 7:53 a.m. IST, indicating that the Nifty 50 near Monday's close of 24,585.05. Other Asian markets were tepid, with the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index edging 0.15% higher. Wall Street fell overnight as investors weighed trade and geopolitical developments ahead of data. U.S. consumer prices, due to released later in the day, are likely to influence U.S. Federal Reserve's rate-cut trajectory, with markets implying around a 90% probability of rate easing in September and at least another rate cut by the year-end. Traders showed scant reaction to U.S. President Donald Trump's executive order extending the tariff truce with China by another 90 days. Trump is also due to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday to discuss ending Russia's war on Ukraine. Investors are keeping an eye on domestic retail inflation data, set to be released after market hours on Tuesday. Cooling food prices likely reduced retail inflation to an eight-year low of 1.76% in July, below the Reserve Bank of India's 2%-6% tolerance band for the first time in more than six years, a Reuters poll of economists showed. Both the Nifty and Sensex climbed nearly 1% on Monday, lifted by a post-earnings rally in State Bank of India and Tata Motors. This rebound followed six consecutive weekly losses, driven by concerns over U.S. tariffs and subdued corporate earnings. Domestic institutional investors have been net buyers of Indian stocks for 26 consecutive sessions, with the flows into equity mutual funds surging to a record high in July, lifting the DIIs' stake in Indian stocks to an all-time high.
Business Recorder
32 minutes ago
- Business Recorder
Gold edges higher with focus on US inflation data
Gold prices nudged higher on Tuesday, after a sharp decline in the previous session, as investors looked forward to U.S. inflation data that could offer further insight into the Federal Reserve's rate-cut trajectory. Spot gold was up 0.2% at $3,350.03 per ounce, as of 0146 GMT. U.S. gold futures for December delivery were steady at $3,402.80. Gold prices slipped 1.6% on Monday, while futures dropped by more than 2% after U.S. President Donald Trump said tariffs will not be placed on imported gold bars, easing jitters in the market. 'Market participants now will be definitely focusing on the upcoming Fed rate cut, which has been more or less priced in September. If we start to see the core CPI data came in slightly below expected, that could actually further support this rate cut expectations,' OANDA senior market analyst Kelvin Wong said. 'That could lower the cost of holding gold and the long-term U.S. 10-year treasury yield still remains below certain key resistance level, so that could actually support gold prices.' All eyes are on U.S. consumer prices index data, which is due at 1230 GMT. Economists polled by Reuters projected that core CPI is likely to have risen 0.3% in July, pushing the annual rate higher to 3%, away from the U.S. Fed target of 2%. Traders are pricing in around an 85% chance of a Fed rate cut next month, as per CME FedWatch Tool. Gold tends to perform well during periods of uncertainty and in a low-interest-rate environment. Trump has repeatedly criticised the Fed for not cutting rates at recent meetings, and markets are also eyeing who will succeed current Chair Jerome Powell, whose term ends next May. Traders appeared to show scant reaction to a statement from a White House official that Trump signed an executive order on Monday, extending a pause in sharply higher U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports for another 90 days. Elsewhere, spot silver gained 0.6% to $37.81 per ounce, platinum rose 0.6% to $1,334.24 and palladium climbed 0.7% to $1,143.93.
