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The Star
11-07-2025
- Business
- The Star
Traders brush off new Trump threats to extend stocks rally
HONG KONG: Stocks mostly rose Friday (July 11) in Asia, tracking records in New York and London, as investors absorbed US President Donald Trump's (pic) latest tariff salvos amid optimism that most countries will strike a deal to avoid the worst of his levies. The US president has ramped up his trade war in the past week by firing off more than 20 letters to governments outlining new tolls if agreements aren't reached by Aug 1. He has also said he would impose 50 per cent tariffs on copper imports, while threatening 200 per cent on pharmaceuticals, and hit Brazil with a new 50 per cent charge. Thursday saw him dial up the rhetoric by warning Canada faced a 35 per cent tax, while most other countries would be handed blanket tariffs of up to 20 per cent, from the current 10 per cent. The moves are the latest by the White House in a campaign it says is aimed at ending decades of the United States being "ripped off". "We're just going to say all of the remaining countries are going to pay, whether it's 20 per cent or 15 per cent. We'll work that out now," Trump told NBC News. "I think the tariffs have been very well-received. The stock market hit a new high today," Trump added. However, while his initial bombshell announcement of tariffs on April 2 sent markets into turmoil, until he paused them for three months, the latest measures have had less impact. Analysts say traders now expect a deal or another delay, while investors appear to be waiting until a deal is done or the tariffs kick in. All three main indexes on Wall Street rose Thursday, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq hitting fresh peaks, hours after the FTSE in London had done so. And Asia largely followed the gains, with Hong Kong up more than one per cent, with Shanghai, Singapore, Seoul, Taipei, Manila and Jakarta also in positive territory. There were small losses in Tokyo, Sydney and Wellington. Still, observers remain cautious. "Just as the market was catching its breath at new highs... President Trump tugged the rug again," said Stephen Innes as SPI Asset Management. "His tariff doctrine is now fully weaponised -- not merely to correct imbalances, but to assert dominion. "Every letter sent to a trade partner is a chess move disguised as a slap," Innes said. Khoon Goh, from Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, expected "more risk aversion across Asia". Investors will "pare back their positions ahead of the weekend, to avoid any whiplash that could occur next week on further tariff news over the next couple of days", he said. - AFP
Economic Times
30-06-2025
- Business
- Economic Times
Bond rally cools just as another index inclusion nears
India's breakthrough into global debt markets needs a second act. ADVERTISEMENT Foreign investors have bought a net $20 billion of the nation's index-eligible sovereign debt after JPMorgan Chase & Co. announced India's inclusion to its benchmark emerging market index in 2023. Recent outflows have left total investments on the low end of estimates by analysts. This year's underperformance is stark given how emerging markets everywhere benefited from a 'Sell America' trade that spurred reallocations by investors. A Bloomberg index tracking the performance of EM local currency debt hit a record high in June, while other Asian nations from South Korea to Malaysia have seen renewed interest from funds. What's holding back India is a currency that has been left behind as almost every Asian peer strengthens against the dollar. The central bank's recent pivot away from more immediate monetary easing also spurred outflows, and highlights the need to attract sticky, index-tracking funds. The $3.4 billion of bond sales from April reinforces the call for more reforms before the nation joins another global debt benchmark in September.'Indian bonds primarily attracted active investors rather than passive, structural flows,' said Nitin Agarwal, head of trading at Australia and New Zealand Banking Group. 'The theme for active investment in India was monetary policy, which has now played out, and the bond rally is perceived to have run its course.' ADVERTISEMENT The nation's bonds officially entered JPMorgan's index in June last sovereign bonds posted a return of 2% in dollar terms in the second quarter, against 5% by a gauge of emerging-market debt. A rally in benchmark 10-year bonds earlier this year — with yields dropping by about 50 basis points — has more or less stopped. ADVERTISEMENT The monetary and currency policies of the Reserve Bank of India have become the key drivers for the nation's debt this year. After the RBI slashed its benchmark interest rate by 50 basis points in June, it switched to a neutral policy stance, signaling limited room for further the rupee's absence from the emerging market rally also has dampened appetite for Indian bonds. The currency is little changed versus the dollar this year, lagging well behind the Taiwan dollar's 13% surge and the South Korean won's 8.6% gain. ADVERTISEMENT 'For foreign investors, total returns in local currency bonds are driven by both bond returns and FX returns,' said Nagaraj Kulkarni, co-head of Asia rates (ex-China) at Standard Chartered Plc in Singapore. 'On the FX, the rupee has been an underperformer in the region even in the recent bout of USD weakness.'The RBI's decision to build up foreign reserves to fend off rising economic and geopolitical risks has weighed on the rupee, and the recent bond outflows have in turn further pressured the currency. ADVERTISEMENT The outflows from April have prompted policymakers to act. The Securities & Exchange Board of India relaxed some rules in June for overseas investors, while the RBI allowed the operation of electronic trading platforms to facilitate more foreign reforms will be needed, according to investors such as Kenneth Akintewe, head of Asia sovereign debt at Aberdeen Investments. Chief among the structural hurdles is the nation's high tax burden. There's a 20% interest income levy, while short-term capital gains on bonds can be as high as 30%.'When you are managing a global portfolio, it is easier to ignore or bypass a market if there are too many impediments to accessing the market,' said there's optimism among some investors that India's debt markets will bring in more foreign funds. A domestically-driven economy makes it more resilient to Donald Trump's tariffs, while the government has demonstrated strong fiscal Bloomberg Economics Says...'India's federal government has rapidly shrunk its fiscal deficit - caused by a stimulus blowout to address the Covid pandemic. It's set to hit its goal of lowering the budget deficit to below 4.5% of GDP in fiscal 2026 and further out aims to cut the federal debt as a share of GDP without committing to any growth-reducing deficit targets.'— Abhishek Gupta, senior India economist 'What international investors like about India's bond market is similar to the reasons that they like the Chinese bond market — because of its own individual policy making, more domestically-focused economic activities,' said Yifei Ding, fixed-income portfolio manager at Invesco Hong Kong Ltd. 'Given the size of the Indian economy and the size of the Indian fixed-income markets, it's not difficult for India to see high single digits foreign ownership in its government bond space,' Ding funds only take up 3% of the nation's $1.3 trillion sovereign bond market, compared with 5.8% in China, as of the end of May, according to Bloomberg calculations of official next milestone will be in September, when FTSE Russell begins to include Indian debt into an emerging-market index. Meanwhile, Bloomberg Index Services Ltd. already started adding rupee notes in one of its gauges in January over a 10-month period. Bloomberg LP is the parent company of Bloomberg Index Services, which administers indexes that compete with those from other service providers.
Business Recorder
03-06-2025
- Business
- Business Recorder
Australian job ads fall for second month in May
SYDNEY: Australian job advertisements fell for a second successive month in May in a sign that the tight labour market may be slowly easing, though the number remained well above pre-pandemic levels. Data from Australia and New Zealand Banking Group and employment website Indeed showed the number of job ads dropped 1.2% in May from April, when they fell a downwardly revised 0.3%. Job ads in May were down 5.7% from a year earlier, though they remained 13.6% higher than pre-pandemic levels. 'Although the ANZ-Indeed Australian Job Ads series has remained in a tight range of 114-117 over the last year, the May result is in the bottom of that range and marks the lowest level of job ads since March 2021,' said ANZ economist Aaron Luk. 'The labour market still remains tight, with robust employment growth and a low unemployment.'
Yahoo
02-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Australian job ads fall for second month in May, ANZ-Indeed data shows
SYDNEY (Reuters) -Australian job advertisements fell for a second successive month in May in a sign that the tight labour market may be slowly easing, though the number remained well above pre-pandemic levels. Data from Australia and New Zealand Banking Group and employment website Indeed showed the number of job ads dropped 1.2% in May from April, when they fell a downwardly revised 0.3%. Job ads in May were down 5.7% from a year earlier, though they remained 13.6% higher than pre-pandemic levels. "Although the ANZ-Indeed Australian Job Ads series has remained in a tight range of 114-117 over the last year, the May result is in the bottom of that range and marks the lowest level of job ads since March 2021," said ANZ economist Aaron Luk. "The labour market still remains tight, with robust employment growth and a low unemployment." The Reserve Bank of Australia cut interest rates to a two-year low last month as cooling inflation offered scope to counter rising global trade risk, and signalled willingness for further easing in the months ahead. The RBA has welcomed the strength in the labour market, with the jobless rate hovering at 4.1% for over a year now. It expects the unemployment rate to edge up slightly and peak at 4.3% by the end of this year.
Yahoo
02-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Australian job ads fall for second month in May, ANZ-Indeed data shows
SYDNEY (Reuters) -Australian job advertisements fell for a second successive month in May in a sign that the tight labour market may be slowly easing, though the number remained well above pre-pandemic levels. Data from Australia and New Zealand Banking Group and employment website Indeed showed the number of job ads dropped 1.2% in May from April, when they fell a downwardly revised 0.3%. Job ads in May were down 5.7% from a year earlier, though they remained 13.6% higher than pre-pandemic levels. "Although the ANZ-Indeed Australian Job Ads series has remained in a tight range of 114-117 over the last year, the May result is in the bottom of that range and marks the lowest level of job ads since March 2021," said ANZ economist Aaron Luk. "The labour market still remains tight, with robust employment growth and a low unemployment." The Reserve Bank of Australia cut interest rates to a two-year low last month as cooling inflation offered scope to counter rising global trade risk, and signalled willingness for further easing in the months ahead. The RBA has welcomed the strength in the labour market, with the jobless rate hovering at 4.1% for over a year now. It expects the unemployment rate to edge up slightly and peak at 4.3% by the end of this year. Sign in to access your portfolio
