Aaron Foster | The Image Bank | Getty Images
Asia-Pacific markets mostly rose Tuesday following gains on all three Wall Street benchmarks overnight, despite mounting global trade frictions.
China pushed back against the U.S.’ accusations that it had violated a temporary trade agreement. Instead, the Asian powerhouse blamed Washington for failing to uphold the deal — a sign that negotiations between the world’s two largest economies are deteriorating.
Meanwhile, the European Union criticized U.S. President Donald Trump’s intention to double steel tariffs to 50%, saying that such a move “undermines” its own negotiations with the U.S. An EU spokesperson said that the bloc was “prepared to impose countermeasures.”
Japan’s Nikkei 225 benchmark pared gains to 0.2%, while the broader Topix index moved down 0.12% in choppy trade.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 benchmark advanced 0.42%, after briefly hitting a near four-month high earlier in the session.
The country’s seasonally adjusted current account balance for the first quarter of 2025 came in at a deficit of 14.7 billion Australian dollars ($9.53 billion), exceeding the AU$13.1 billion deficit forecast by economists polled by Reuters, but an improvement from the AU$16.3 billion deficit in the previous quarter’s revised reading.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 1.55% while Mainland China’s CSI 300 moved up 0.21%.
The Caixin/S&P Global manufacturing purchasing managers’ index came in at 48.3, from 50.4 in April, and missing Reuters’ median estimate of 50.6. It fell below 50, the mark that separates growth from contraction, for the first time since September last year.
South Korean markets were closed for polling day.
— CNBC’s Lisa Kailai Han and Sean Conlon contributed to this report.
