Latest news with #Asian
Business Recorder
34 minutes ago
- Business
- Business Recorder
US court ruling on tariffs lifts dollar, dragging Indian rupee lower
MUMBAI: The Indian rupee is set to open weaker on Thursday, weighed by the dollar's strength after a U.S. court blocked President Donald Trump's tariffs. The 1-month non-deliverable forward indicated the local currency would open in the 85.48-85.52 range, compared to a close of 85.36 in the previous session. 'When you think about it, it's a bit counterintuitive that Asia is lower on the back of the U.S. court blocking tariffs,' a currency trader at a Mumbai-based bank said. 'However, that's been the pattern — tariffs imply weaker U.S. growth and a softer dollar.' The trader expects the rupee to find support in the 85.50–85.60 zone, and reckons that the opening decline in the rupee will not sustain. Indian rupee to open nearly flat, holds upper hand as dollar remains vulnerable The dollar index climbed past the 100 level, Asian currencies were down between 0.1% and 0.6%, and U.S. equity futures rallied after a U.S. court blocked Trump from imposing tariffs, saying the U.S. Constitution provides Congress exclusive authority to regulate commerce. The Trump administration filed a notice of appeal and questioned the authority of the court. Trump's tariff plans on U.S. trading partners had drawn warnings from economists about the potential for higher inflation and uncertainty, which had weighed on the dollar. The U.S. court ruling blocking the tariffs brought relief to the dollar, at least for now. 'The question is what's next. First, we think tariffs will likely still be in force during the appeals process, with the Trump administration likely to take the appeals process all the way up to the Supreme Court,' MUFG Bank said in a note. The immediate reaction of the dollar strengthening and Asian currencies weakening may not last considering that the tariffs are likely to stay and with the legal uncertainty potentially crimping US growth and investment plans, it said.
Yahoo
36 minutes ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Gold hits over one-week low after US court blocks Trump's tariffs
By Anmol Choubey (Reuters) - Gold touched a more than one-week low on Thursday after a U.S. federal court blocked President Donald Trump's "Liberation Day" tariffs, dampening the metal's safe-haven allure, while a robust dollar further pressured the bullion. Spot gold was down 0.7% at $3,268 an ounce, as of 0242 GMT, after hitting its lowest since May 20. U.S. gold futures dropped 0.1% to $3,265. A U.S. trade court on Wednesday halted the enforcement of Trump's tariffs, ruling the president exceeded his authority by imposing universal duties on imports from nations with a trade surplus with the United States. "This was obviously the most important news driver and looking at the broad, dollar sort of rallied on that and obviously helped push gold lower," said Nicholas Frappell, global head of institutional markets at ABC Refinery. On April 2, Trump had levied "reciprocal tariffs" on multiple countries, stoking fears of a global recession. However, many of those country-specific tariffs were paused a week later. Following the trade court's ruling, the U.S. dollar index rallied making greenback-priced gold more expensive, with Wall Street futures and Asian equities also climbing. [MKTS/GLOB][USD/] Meanwhile, the Trump administration filed a notice of appeal, challenging the court's authority and signalling a potential escalation to the Supreme Court if necessary. But the gold market is still bullish as "longer term outlook suggests a weaker dollar and there's still likely to be some inflationary pressures near term," Frappell said. The minutes from the U.S. Federal Reserve's May 6-7 session showed that officials are concerned about the potential for concurrent rises in inflation and unemployment, a scenario that would necessitate a choice between implementing tighter monetary policy to combat inflation or lowering interest rates to support economic growth and employment. The market now awaits U.S. GDP data due later in the day, with core U.S. Personal Consumption Expenditures data for further cues on rate cut trajectory. Elsewhere, spot silver rose 0.4% to $33.12 an ounce, platinum was steady at $1,075.50 and palladium edged 0.9% higher to $971.30.
Business Times
36 minutes ago
- Automotive
- Business Times
This US$7,000 single-seat electric car is a big hit in Japan
[TOKYO] In the rural suburbs of Hiroshima, a Japanese startup is trying to kick start the nation's electric vehicle (EV) market with the smallest, cheapest car it can possibly make. KG Motors has developed a battery-powered one-seater that more resembles a futuristic golf cart than it does a modern EV, much less a traditional car. And yet well over half of the 3,300 units it plans to deliver by March 2027 have already been pre-sold to customers. Incidentally, that puts it on track to sell more EVs in Japan than the world's biggest automaker, Toyota Motor, which shifted around 2,000 vehicles in all of 2024. In a country where EVs are still a rare sight, KG Motors is trying to bust a burgeoning myth: that bigger is better. 'Cars are simply too big,' founder and chief executive officer Kazunari Kusunoki said. 'Seeing so many big cars travelling Japan's narrow streets – that's where this all began for me.' At under 1.5 metres in height, KG Motors' mibot has a range of 100 kilometres, a charging time of five hours and a top speed of 60 kilometres per hour. It will cost one million yen (S$8,877) before tax when production starts in October at KG Motors' new factory east of the city. That's about half the price of Japan's most popular EV, Nissan Motor's Sakura. To date, domestic and foreign automakers alike have struggled to find traction for EVs in Japan. The cars accounted for about 140,000 units or around 3.5 per cent of total vehicle sales in 2023, a far cry from the global average of 18 per cent, according to BloombergNEF. Chinese behemoth BYD, for example, sold 2,223 automobiles in Japan in 2024 – a sliver of the 4.3 million it delivered worldwide. A NEWSLETTER FOR YOU Friday, 2 pm Lifestyle Our picks of the latest dining, travel and leisure options to treat yourself. Sign Up Sign Up Toyota and its Japanese peers, meanwhile, are at odds with other legacy automakers that hold an all-electric view of the future. Toyota has long harboured a multi-pathway approach to a greener tomorrow, one where EVs as well as petrol, hybrids and hydrogen-powered vehicles play a role. As a result, the petrol-electric hybrids pioneered by Japanese manufacturers still dominate. 'Toyota said EVs are not the only solution and, because it's Toyota, Japanese people assume it must be true,' Kusunoki said. 'A large number of people in Japan seem to believe EVs won't become popular.' Japan, at least, has been slower to embrace the global trend towards larger, roomier vehicles. Smaller autos have always been a feature in the Asian nation and its lightweight kei cars have even found cult followings abroad. In recent years, they have claimed the lion's share of the domestic EV market, accounting for 55 per cent of total sales in 2023. Nissan's Sakura is a kei car, with just under 23,000 units sold in 2024. In April, BYD said it's planning to produce a fully-electric kei car specifically for the Japanese market in the second half of 2026, while Hyundai Motor introduced the Inster earlier this year, a 2.9 million yen vehicle it claims to be Japan's cheapest EV, at least among full-sized passenger cars. Small-sized EVs have helped spark consumer acceptance of battery-powered cars overseas as well. In China, the world's biggest EV market, Saic-GM-Wuling Automobile's Hongguang Mini was at one point the nation's top seller. Still, with its single-seat design, KG Motors' mibot is in a tiny league of its own. The first 300 should be delivered to customers in Hiroshima and Tokyo before the end of next March, while the other 3,000 will be shipped nationwide, Kusunoki said. KG Motors says it will lose money on the first batch but should break even on the second. After that, the company aims to produce around 10,000 units annually. The startup's size and make-to-order strategy could work in its favour. EVs use far less parts than conventional petrol or hybrid vehicles but the mibot takes that to another level, essentially consisting of a battery, motor and sparse electronics connected by wiring housed within a monocoque chassis on four wheels, so production costs are low. Even KG Motors' marketing draws on Kusunoki's former life as a YouTube content creator. The company has published footage on its website of the mibot being tested on the icy roads of Hokkaido, squeezing between homes packed into Hiroshima's historic districts and smashing into concrete walls at high speeds to ensure it satisfies Japan's strict safety regulations. Kusunoki, 43, who founded KG Motors in June 2022, grew up in Higashihiroshima, a suburban town with streets sometimes too narrow even for a Japanese sedan. He watched the country's public transport infrastructure deteriorate as a shortage of taxi drivers was compounded by an ageing, shrinking population. As young people migrate to big cities, it's also becoming more difficult for the elderly to get around. As a result, KG Motors ultimately sees demand for one- or two-seater compact, cost-efficient cars. As at early May, the company had received 2,250 orders, with over 95 per cent coming from homeowners with at least one vehicle. 'In rural parts of the country, public transportation systems are in shambles,' Kusunoki said. 'This might be hard for someone living in Tokyo to understand but at some point, it becomes necessary to have one car per person, not just per household.' BLOOMBERG
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Business
- Yahoo
US court ruling on tariffs lifts dollar, dragging rupee lower
By Nimesh Vora MUMBAI (Reuters) -The Indian rupee is set to open weaker on Thursday, weighed by the dollar's strength after a U.S. court blocked President Donald Trump's tariffs. The 1-month non-deliverable forward indicated the local currency would open in the 85.48-85.52 range, compared to a close of 85.36 in the previous session. "When you think about it, it's a bit counterintuitive that Asia is lower on the back of the U.S. court blocking tariffs," a currency trader at a Mumbai-based bank said. "However, that's been the pattern — tariffs imply weaker U.S. growth and a softer dollar." The trader expects the rupee to find support in the 85.50–85.60 zone, and reckons that the opening decline in the rupee will not sustain. The dollar index climbed past the 100 level, Asian currencies were down between 0.1% and 0.6%, and U.S. equity futures rallied after a U.S. court blocked Trump from imposing tariffs, saying the U.S. Constitution provides Congress exclusive authority to regulate commerce. The Trump administration filed a notice of appeal and questioned the authority of the court. Trump's tariff plans on U.S. trading partners had drawn warnings from economists about the potential for higher inflation and uncertainty, which had weighed on the dollar. The U.S. court ruling blocking the tariffs brought relief to the dollar, at least for now. "The question is what's next. First, we think tariffs will likely still be in force during the appeals process, with the Trump administration likely to take the appeals process all the way up to the Supreme Court," MUFG Bank said in a note. The immediate reaction of the dollar strengthening and Asian currencies weakening may not last considering that the tariffs are likely to stay and with the legal uncertainty potentially crimping US growth and investment plans, it said. KEY INDICATORS: ** One-month non-deliverable rupee forward at 85.64; onshore one-month forward premium at 15 paisa ** Dollar index at 100.24 ** Brent crude futures up 1.2% at $65.7 per barrel ** Ten-year U.S. note yield at 4.5% ** As per NSDL data, foreign investors bought a net $111.7 million worth of Indian shares on May. 27 ** NSDL data shows foreign investors bought a net $22 million worth of Indian bonds on May. 27 Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
New Straits Times
an hour ago
- Business
- New Straits Times
Dollar surges after US court blocks Trump's tariffs
SINGAPORE: The US dollar rallied on Thursday in knee-jerk reaction to a court blocking President Donald Trump from imposing his import tariffs on other countries, providing some relief for the currency that has struggled this year due to trade uncertainty. The Manhattan-based Court of International Trade said the US Constitution gives Congress exclusive authority to regulate commerce with other countries that is not overridden by the president's emergency powers to safeguard the US economy. In response, the Trump administration filed an appeal within minutes. "It's almost impossible to know if the tariffs will be completely unwound by this. But in the hypothetical situation that they are, it's natural to see dollar appreciation," said Yunosuke Ikeda, head of macro research at Nomura in Tokyo. "Trump's tariffs will lead to stagflation pressure on the US economy, so reversing those tariffs would be a positive for the dollar." US assets including the dollar, equities and longer-dated Treasury bonds have witnessed sharp declines in recent months as investors reassessed historic assumptions around the strength and outperformance of US markets as Trump's erratic trade and tax policies sap confidence and spur inflation. On Thursday, the dollar reversed some of those moves and rose 0.72 per cent against the yen to 145.86 and 0.63 per cent against the Swiss franc to 0.8326. The euro slid 0.42 per cent to US$1.1245 and sterling fell 0.30 per cent to US$1.3432. That left the dollar index , which measures the US currency against six major peers, back above 100 for the first time in a week. The index, though, is down 8 per cent this year and analysts remain sceptical of a sustained dollar rally and expect a long court battle over tariffs. "There's an initial reaction of a stronger dollar and weaker yen. However, considering judicial processes like appeals, I don't expect a continuous rise in the dollar," said Hirofumi Suzuki, chief FX strategist at SMBC. The greenback has weakened about 2 per cent against the Japanese yen, nearly 6 per cent against the Swiss franc and 4 per cent against the euro since Trump slapped harsh levies on global economies on April 2, while the broader dollar index has fallen more than 3 per cent. "The markets are buying back the dollar on the news, rather than selling the yen," said Tohru Sasaki, chief strategist at Fukuoka Financial Group. "But if the dollar continued to rise to above 148 yen, speculative short yen positions may be forced to unwind, causing the dollar-yen pair to rise even more," he said. US stock futures and Asian bourses jumped on a risk-on rally. Traders also cut their expectations for interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve to 42 basis points of easing compared to 50 basis points earlier in the week, LSEG data showed. Investor focus this month has been on the bond market, with lacklustre demand for longer-dated debt globally drawing attention to worsening government deficits. Traders are also watching progress of a budget and spending bill in the US Congress that is expected to add trillions of dollars of debt. But sentiment about the US economy has improved after Trump delayed on the weekend a plan to impose 50 per cent tariffs on European Union imports and investors are on the lookout for any signs of improving relations between the United States and its trade partners.
