Asian stocks traded in a tight range Thursday as a global relief rally started to give up momentum after mixed signals from the Trump administration on its plans for China tariffs. A regional gauge of stocks swung between small gains and losses as market enthusiasm got curbed after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent cast doubt on a timely resolution to the US-China trade war. That trimmed the S&P 500's gain Wednesday to 1.7%. The yen reversed two days of losses and the dollar weakened in early Asian trade. Gold jumped 1.4% in increased demand for the traditional safe-haven asset. Global equities and long-dated Treasuries rose on Wednesday on signs US President Donald Trump is rethinking the most-aggressive elements of his stances on trade and the Federal Reserve. We get reaction to the day's headlines from Mark Cranfield, Bloomberg MLIV Strategist in Singapore.
Plus - SK Hynix reported a 158% jump in March-quarter operating income, driven in part by stockpiling ahead of US tariffs, and maintained its forecast for a doubling in demand for high-bandwidth memory. The company warned of increased volatility in the second half of 2025 due to uncertainty surrounding US tariffs, despite resilient demand for AI memory chips from big tech providers. We hear from SK Kim, Executive Director at Daiwa Securities.
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