Asian stocks edged higher on Wednesday

Asian stocks edged higher on Wednesday as investors prepared for new U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminium, a fresh turn in the ongoing trade dispute. The dollar reached near its weakest point in six weeks as traders weighed the potential fallout.

The KOSPI, South Korea’s main stock index, jumped over 2% to its highest point since August 2024. In the rest of the region, the MSCI Asia-Pacific index outside Japan rose by 0.6% as mentioned in a Reuters report.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose by 0.8%, while Taiwan’s stock market saw a 1.6% increase, spurred in part by Nvidia’s strong performance in U.S. markets overnight. [.N]

In mainland China, blue-chip stocks were nearly flat in early trading, inching up by 0.09%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index added 0.27%.

“Markets may be desensitized to trade headlines, but Trump-Xi talks remain in focus. A grand deal looks unlikely, yet any escalation could still spark a bout of risk aversion,” said Charu Chanana, chief investment strategist at Saxo in Singapore.

OECD cuts global growth forecast to 2.9% for 2025 and 2026

Wednesday marked the deadline for U.S. trading partners to submit proposals that could help them avoid President Trump’s planned “Liberation Day” tariffs, set to take effect in five weeks.

On Wednesday at 04:01 GMT, Trump’s surprise move to raise existing tariffs on steel and aluminium from 25% to 50% officially took effect, following an order he signed last week.

“We believe that the steel and aluminium tariffs are an exemplar of other strategic tariffs that are coming and likely to ‘stick,’” said Thierry Wizman, global FX and rates strategist at Macquarie. “With that, there’s still little impetus for a U.S. dollar rally to take hold.”

The on-again, off-again nature of U.S. tariffs has driven investors away from American assets and toward safe havens like gold and other currencies.

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) warned that the global economy is set to slow from 3.3% growth last year to 2.9% in both 2025 and 2026, trimming its previous estimates from March, largely due to the impact of the U.S. trade war.

On Wednesday, the dollar slipped 0.17% against the Japanese yen to 143.72 and fell 0.1% against the Swiss franc to 0.8227. The euro rose 0.15% to $1.1388. The dollar index, which tracks the U.S. currency against six major peers, stood at 99.11, not far from a six-week low of 98.58 hit on Monday. Year-to-date, the index has fallen 8.5%.

In commodity markets, oil prices eased as a softening supply-demand balance emerged amid rising OPEC+ output and ongoing worries about global growth.

Brent crude futures inched down 0.06% to $65.59 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude declined 0.09% to $63.35 per barrel. Gold continued its climb, rising 0.5% to $3,369.59 per ounce, bringing its gains so far this year to an impressive 28% on safe-haven buying.

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