Asian equity markets ended mostly in green on Tuesday as higher commodity prices on a weaker dollar helped investors shrug off renewed concerns about protectionist policies under new US President Donald Trump. Though, the US dollar remained under selling pressure in Asian trading on mounting uncertainty over future US fiscal policy, as Trump vowed to impose a major border tax on companies that move overseas while abandoning the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade deal and announcing plans to renegotiate the terms of NAFTA at the appropriate time. Statements from the US Treasury Secretary-designate on currency strength also raised some suspicion that the Trump administration's protectionist stance will include seeking a weaker currency. Chinese shares ended higher, but pared some of the earlier gains as investors were reluctant to stake out fresh positions ahead of the country's biggest holiday starting this week. Sentiment was also affected by renewed debt worries after Beijing reported a significantly larger fiscal deficit in 2016. Meanwhile, Japanese shares ended lower, hit by a firmer yen following better-than-expected Japanese manufacturing PMI print for January.
Asian Indices | Last Trade | Change in Points | Change in % |
Shanghai Composite | 3,142.55 | 5.78 | 0.18 |
Hang Seng | 22,949.86 | 51.34 | 0.22 |
Jakarta Composite | 5,292.09 | 41.12 | 0.78 |
KLSE Composite | 1,680.69 | 9.38 | 0.56 |
Nikkei 225 | 18,787.99 | -103.04 | -0.55 |
Straits Times | 3,041.95 | 16.47 | 0.54 |
KOSPI Composite | 2,065.76 | -0.23 | -0.01 |
Taiwan Weighted | 9,447.95 | 23.90 | 0.25 |