Asian shares dip, dollar struggles after Trump's tariff backflip

Zawya

27-05-2025

SINGAPORE: Asian shares eased on Tuesday, though U.S. futures rose after President Donald Trump delayed his threatened 50% duties on European Union shipments, while the dollar was headed for a fifth straight monthly loss.
In Japan, yields on super-long government bonds fell early in the session, retreating from their all-time highs in the wake of last week's heavy selloff in the bonds.
Markets in the U.S. were closed on Monday for a holiday, making for thin overnight trading conditions and leaving investors latching on to lingering optimism from Trump's U-turn on his threat to impose 50% tariffs on imports from the EU next month, restoring a July 9 deadline.
Nasdaq futures were up 1.26% in Asia while S&P 500 futures similarly rose 1.11%. FTSE futures advanced 0.94%. UK markets were also closed on Monday.
"It was a better night for risk assets, following Trump deferring (EU tariffs) back to July 9," said Tony Sycamore, a market analyst at IG.
"What I think probably is now the main driver for this week is we've got the month-end rebalancing flows, which should start to kick in anytime soon... Nvidia's earnings report again is going to be front and centre in terms of what's going on there."
Results from Nvidia are due on Wednesday, where the AI darling is expected to report a 65.9% jump in first-quarter revenue.
Elsewhere, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.17%, while Japan's Nikkei similarly fell 0.15%.
China's CSI300 blue-chip index edged 0.06% lower while the Shanghai Composite Index was little changed. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index dipped 0.1%.
Focus for investors this week will also be on speeches from a slew of Federal Reserve policymakers and Friday's U.S. core PCE price index, for clues on the outlook for U.S. rates.
A two-day annual conference hosted by the Bank of Japan (BOJ) and its affiliated think tank kicked off on Tuesday, with this year's gathering of global central bankers in Tokyo set to focus on flagging economic growth and sticky inflation.
In currencies, the dollar struggled to find its footing and was headed for a fifth straight month of declines against a basket of currencies, which would mark the longest such losing streak since 2017.
The euro hovered near a one-month high at $1.14035, while the yen was up nearly 0.5% at 142.18 per dollar.
Trump's chaotic trade policies and concerns over the worsening U.S. deficit outlook have undermined sentiment towards U.S. assets and in turn been a drag on the dollar.
"A U.S. dollar regime change could be in the making in the long term after it appears to have peaked recently," said David Meier, an economist at Julius Baer.
"Erratic U.S. policymaking, the tense fiscal situation, and large external indebtedness, against the backdrop of the twin deficit, suggest that a weaker USD is the route of least resistance."
And as the dollar loses some of its safe-haven appeal, investors have instead sought alternatives such as gold, sending prices to record highs this year.
It last traded 0.28% lower at $3,332.91 an ounce.
Elsewhere, oil prices eased on Tuesday as investors weighed the possibility of an OPEC+ decision to further increase its crude oil output at a meeting later this week.
Brent crude futures eased 0.1% to $64.67 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.16% to $61.43 per barrel.