By
Mayowa Adebajo
April 12th, 2024
The bullish trends observed in the Asia-Pacific region as the Commerce Secretary, Gina Raimondo told CNN that President Joe Biden’s administration is “looking at” potentially lifting some tariffs on China to fight inflation.
The global stock market is currently on an edge and the Asia-Pacific stocks are seeing a mixed reaction to macroeconomic trends today with the Hang Seng Index (INDEXHANGSENG: HSI) growing 2.71% to 21,653.90.
Chinese stocks are particularly seeing the light of day within the region as a report from the Wall Street Journal posited that Chinese regulators are concluding their crackdown on tech stocks. The report has it that the probes on Chinese ride-hailing giant, DiDi Global Inc (NYSE: DIDI) and two other companies will be wrapped up and the regulators will permit new user onboarding.
The conclusion of the probe will also permit the apps of these companies to be relisted on local app stores so they can be easily accessible to Chinese users. The report sent the shares of DiDi up by 50.81% in the pre-market to $2.79. Other flagship shares of Chinese firms listed in Hong Kong also saw their prices rejuvenated with Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (HKG: 9988) growing by 5.04% to 96.95 Hong Kong Dollars.
In Mainland China, the SSE Composite Index (SHA: 000001) shot up by 1.28% to 3,236.37 while the Shenzhen Component SZSE Component Index (SHE: 399001) recorded a 2.66% growth to 11,938.12.
The trends were somewhat negative in other Asia-Pacific stock markers as the Australian S&P/ASX 200 (INDEXASX: XJO) saw its growth tapered down slightly by 0.45% to 7,206.30. While South Korean markets were closed for a holiday, Japan’s Nikkei 225 (INDEXNIKKEI: NI225) added 154.32 atop a 0.56% growth to 27,915.89.
Asia-Pacific Stock Spillover to the US
The bullish trends observed in the Asia-Pacific region as the Commerce Secretary, Gina Raimondo told CNN that President Joe Biden’s administration is “looking at” potentially lifting some tariffs on China to fight inflation.
“The president has asked us on his team to analyze that, and so we’re in the process of doing that for him and he will have to make that decision,” Raimondo said, adding that it “may make sense” if the government tapers down the levies it slaps on certain products such as household goods and bicycles.
The Biden Administration is very much committed to fighting inflation and the economic decline that comes with it, and should easing off tax tariffs to ease off the trade war it has with China will solve issues, then it seems ready to go all out.
When compared to its peers, the United States Dollar is not performing badly with the US Dollar Index pegging at 101.948 after seeing an earlier high of 102.211. Brent Crude is trading at $120.5 with the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) Crude at $119.6 at the time of writing according to data from Oilprice.com.