The Hang Seng Index reversed its downward trend in Hong Kong on Thursday (February 12th), weakening by around 0.9% to around 27,000 after a strong session earlier. This decline halted the momentum of the short term rally, as investors began to reduce risk in large cap stocks. Among the index's contributors, Tencent was a major drag, with its shares falling by around 2.3%, putting pressure on the technology sector, which has recently been a driving force behind market gains. Weakness in large cap companies like this typically quickly impacts sentiment due to their significant weighting in...
Indonesia will emphasize its strategic role in global trade—particularly in natural resources as it advances negotiations to reduce a 32% tariff set to be imposed by the US, a government official said on Wednesday. Haryo Limanseto, spokesperson for the Ministry of Economic Affairs, said Indonesia's Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Airlangga Hartarto who is leading the negotiation team is scheduled to meet with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and other officials. However, no specific timeframe for the meetings was provided. The 32% tariff...
In the first batch of "tariff letters" sent to trading partners, U.S. President Donald Trump took aim at two of the closest U.S. allies in Asia: Japan and South Korea both are already bearing the brunt of the existing duties on auto and steel exports. Additional tariffs would further hurt these two exports-dependent economies that are grappling with a slowdown in growth, with Japan likely staring at a technical recession, or two straight quarters of economic contraction. Both Japan and South Korea saw first-quarter gross domestic product contract on a quarter-on-quarter basis. While South...
Germany summoned the Chinese ambassador to the foreign ministry on Tuesday after saying China's military had laser-targeted a German aircraft taking part in an EU operation in the Red Sea, an account Beijing denied. The flare-up in tensions comes as concerns mount in the EU about Chinese influence on critical technologies and security infrastructure in Europe. "Putting German personnel at risk and disrupting the operation is completely unacceptable," said Germany's foreign ministry on social media platform X. China's foreign ministry, when asked about the accusation on Wednesday, said...
US President Donald Trump's plans to place hefty import tariffs on copper have already caused a spike in costs for American factories, with New York futures trading 25% higher than other global benchmarks on Tuesday. The fresh spike in US prices came after Trump said he planned to place a 50% tariff on copper imports, doubling down on a threat he first made in February to impose targeted levies on the crucial industrial metal. A 50% tariff would match duties he has already imposed on steel and aluminum in a bid to revive US production, but it would take a particularly heavy toll on...
President Donald Trump reiterated his displeasure with Vladimir Putin over the war in Ukraine and confirmed he's sending more defensive weapons to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's government, sweeping aside an earlier pause by the Pentagon. "He's killing too many people so we're sending some defensive weapons to Ukraine and I've approved it," Trump told reporters at a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday. Earlier in the meeting, he said he was "not happy with Putin" because the Russian leader is "killing a lot of people." It was the second time in less than 24 hours that...