SET index drops, Asian shares fluctuate as Trump open to tariff talks
WHA Corp, Thailand's biggest industrial land developer and operator, was down six satang or 1.94% to 3.04 baht, while Delta Electronics dropped 2 baht, or 1.81%, to 108.50.
Asian shares swung between small gains and losses as Trump left the door open for additional trade negotiations after imposing new tariff rates on several countries.
The MSCI regional stock benchmark traded in a tight range amid gains in South Korea and Japan, countries that attracted a new level of levies. Toyota Motor Corp rose 1% along with other Japanese automakers. The won strengthened, while a gauge of the US dollar dipped 0.1%. Treasuries inched lower. The euro gained on a report the US offered a deal to the European Union (EU) with a 10% tariff level.
After announcing higher levies on several countries, Trump said late Monday he was still open to additional negotiations and pushed off increased duties until at least Aug 1. The president also teased the possibility of additional negotiations and delays saying the notifications were 'not 100% firm.'
The comments eased market concerns that aggressive tariffs are coming to several Asian nations and that will hurt the prospects of exports to the United States. Despite Monday's fall, stocks are hovering around record high levels. Markets have recovered from their April plunge - when sweeping levies were first announced - fuelled by expectations that the tariff deadline will be extended, based on Trump's pattern of threatening first and backing down later.
'Investors are looking past the latest tariff announcements, seeing them as a tactic to accelerate negotiations, rather than the final word of where duties will ultimately land,' said Frederic Neumann, HSBC's chief Asia economist.
On Monday, Trump released the first in a series of tariff warning letters, just two days before agreements are due on countries facing his April 2 so-called reciprocal levies. The new rates include 25% duties on goods from Japan, South Korea, and Malaysia; 32% on Indonesia; 35% on Bangladesh; 36% on Thailand and Cambodia; and 40% on Laos and Myanmar.
'Maybe adjust a little bit, depending,' Trump said, indicating he would look favorably on countries continuing to offer additional concessions. 'We're not going to be unfair.'
Despite the market turmoil from Trump's tariffs, stocks globally have rebounded from their April lows, reflecting optimism that Japan and other countries will strike deals with the US to avoid derailing growth.
So far, the US economy has held up under the threat of a spiralling global trade war. Hiring is healthy and inflation has remained tame. The Federal Reserve is wary about tariffs and wants to see how they feed through to output in the next few months.
The narrative that the US president is again engaged in a negotiating tactic rather than serious threats means dip buyers will likely pile in. The more uncertain the trade path is, the more certain investors are that the impact will be minimal.
One positive to be taken away from the latest trade developments was that the higher tariffs won't be in place during July. That means 'an indirect extension' of the original 90-day pause that would expire on Wednesday, said Ian Lyngen and Vail Hartman at BMO Capital Markets.
'The outcome could certainly have been more dire for the economic outlook had the additional window of relief not been included in the latest trade-war salvo,' they noted.
Indian officials familiar with the matter said the nation had made its best offer on trade and the fate of an interim deal now lies in the hands of Trump. Negotiators conveyed to Washington the red lines they were unwilling to breach in finalising an agreement, including allowing the US to export genetically modified crops to India, and opening up India's dairy and automobile sectors to America.
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