Stock markets brush aside higher US tariffs

Most stock markets gained Thursday even as President Donald Trump’s new tariffs on dozens of countries took effect, with investors eyeing exemptions from his threatened 100-percent levy on semiconductors.

Sentiment was also lifted by hopes of easing geopolitical tensions after the Kremlin said Trump and Russia’s leader Vladimir Putin were set to meet for talks in the coming days.

Paris and Frankfurt each piled on around one percent in midday deals.

London was a rare faller ahead of an expected interest-rate cut by the Bank of England.

“Trump’s global web of tariffs is now in place, but the stock market appears largely unfazed,” said Jochen Stanzl, chief market analyst at CMC Markets.

He added that buying was driven by “the potential for an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve in just over a month and a possible meeting between Trump, (Ukraine leader Volodymyr) Zelensky, and Putin as early as next week”.

The dollar struggled as the United States began charging higher tariffs on goods from dozens of trading partners, including the European Union and India, as part of Trump’s drive to reshape global trade in America’s favour.

Switzerland’s stock market gained around one percent even after top officials failed to convince Washington not to impose a 39-percent tariff on Swiss goods.

Shortly before the new levies kicked in, Washington separately announced it would double Indian tariffs to 50 percent.

– Chip levies –

Asian markets extended gains following a strong day on Wall Street, with tech stocks lifted by chip-tariff exemptions for companies investing heavily in the United States or committed to do so.

Apple-linked stocks rose after the US tech giant pledged to invest an additional $100 billion in the United States.

Tokyo and Hong Kong closed in the green Thursday, with Taipei leading the way thanks to the surge in Taiwanese chip-making giant TSMC.

TSMC climbed five percent as Taipei said it would be exempt from Trump’s threatened levies on the sector.

Seoul-listed Samsung, which is also pumping billions into the world’s number one economy, rose more than two percent while South Korean rival SK hynix was up more than one percent.

However, some other Asian manufacturers took a beating, including Japan’s Tokyo Electron and chipmaker Renesas.

Analysts said that while the chip threat was steep, there was optimism the final level would be lower.

Shanghai closed higher after data showed stronger-than-expected Chinese exports, with a surge in shipments to the EU and Southeast Asian nations offsetting a plunge in those to the United States.