Asian Shares Mixed As Tariff Concerns Resurface

(RTTNews) - Asian stocks ended mixed on Thursday as trade war concerns resurfaced following mixed signals from the Trump administration regarding easing tariffs on Chinese imports. U.S.-China trade deal optimism faded after U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said there were no plans for President Trump to move first in lowering tariffs to ease Sino-U.S. tensions, echoing comments from White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt that there will be no unilateral reduction in tariffs against China.

The dollar turned lower after a brief recovery, helping gold prices bounce back in Asian trade. Oil prices also edged up after Wednesday's 2 percent fall.

China's Shanghai Composite index ended marginally higher at 3,297.29 despite shares of cloud computing, big data and software companies suffering heavy losses.

China today launched its first batch of special sovereign bonds for 2025, aiming to cushion the economy from simmering trade tensions with the U.S.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 0.74 percent to 21,909.76, dropping for the first time in four days, dragged down by tech shares.

Japanese markets eked out modest gains while the yen flipped after two days of losses as Scott Bessent said that Washington has "no currency targets" in its talks with Japan on tariffs.

The Nikkei average rose 0.49 percent to 35,039.15 after reports suggested that a second round of talks in Washington was set for May 1. The broader Topix index settled 0.32 percent higher at 2,592.56, led by technology and auto stocks.

Suzuki Motor rose about 1 percent and Toyota gained nearly 3 percent after reports emerged that U.S. President Donald Trump is considering exemptions for automakers from certain tariffs.

Advantest, the world's biggest supplier of chip testing equipment, rallied 3.2 percent and Tokyo Electron surged 3.7 percent.

Seoul stocks ended slightly lower because of uncertainty about what Trump will do with his economic policies. The Kospi average closed 0.13 percent lower at 2,522.33 ahead of tariff talks with the United States.

Australian markets rose notably to hit a four-week high, with banks and miners leading the surge. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.60 percent to finish at 7,968.20 while the broader all Ordinaries index closed up 0.61 percent at 8,175.10.

Across the Tasman, New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX-50 index rose 0.51 percent to 12,017.84.

U.S. stocks rallied overnight, the dollar gained and safe-haven gold plunged after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that both the U.S. and China have the chance to make "a big deal" on trade. "If they want to rebalance, let's do it together," Bessent said.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite ended 2.5 percent higher after surging as much as 4.5 percent earlier. The S&P 500 jumped 1.7 percent and the Dow climbed 1.1 percent.