Asia-Pacific markets mostly rise after Wall Street looks past U.S.-China trade spat to rise overnight​on February 5, 2025 at 7:30 am

Asia-Pacific markets mostly rose Wednesday after Wall Street rose overnight, shrugging off Trump tariffs and China’s retaliatory measures.

All eyes are on China, which resumed trading after the Lunar New Year holidays and as the Chinese government announced tariffs on U.S. imports in retaliation to duties on its exports.

Morningstar’s Asia equity analyst Kai Wang, says China’s tariffs on the U.S. are “largely symbolic given that only about 12% of total imports from the U.S. would be subject to tariffs.”

“A key takeaway from this development, at least for now, is that fundamentally there is less risk implied than expected before. However, escalation of the trade war remains a risk given Trump’s history of unpredictable behavior. Therefore, the volatility risk remains on the table for the next four years at least,” Wang wrote in a note Tuesday.

Mainland China’s CSI 300 Index started the day up, but reversed course to fall 0.58% to close at 3,795.08.

China’s Caixin Services PMI came in at 51.0 in January, compared with December’s 52.2 reading, showing a slowdown in the country’s services activity.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was down 0.97% in its final hour of trade.

Japan benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 0.09% to close at 38,831.48 while the broader Topix index gained 0.27% to close at 2,745.41.

South Korea’s Kospi rose 1.11% to close at 2,509.27 and the small-cap Kosdaq gained 1.54% to close at 730.98.

The country’s consumer price index for January rose 0.7% month on month and 2.2% annually — more than Reuters’ 1.97% estimate.

Indian stocks were mixed as the Reserve Bank of India holds its first monetary policy meeting under the new central bank governor, with investors expecting a rate cut when the meeting concludes on Friday.

The benchmark Nifty 50 was trading around the flatline, while the BSE Sensex index slipped 0.22%.

Over in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.51% to end the day at 8,416.90.

Overnight in the U.S., the three indexes moved higher following the developments around global trade.

Software player Palantir popped about 24% on fourth-quarter results. AI major Nvidia advancing 1.7% during the session.

The tech-heavy index Nasdaq Composite jumped 1.35% to 19,654.02, while the S&P 500 rose 0.72% to 6,037.88. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 134.13 points, or 0.3%, to 44,556.04.

— CNBC’s Sean Conlon and Pia Singh contributed to this report.