Asian Stocks Rise, Wall Street Falls Unaffected
Asia-Pacific stock markets rose on Tuesday, moving in the opposite direction of Wall Street's decline the day before. Investors in Asia weighed two major issues still looming over the global landscape: US President Donald Trump's threat of new tariffs and concerns that artificial intelligence (AI) could disrupt software companies' business models.
Trump wrote on Truth Social that any country that wants to "play around" with the Supreme Court's ruling will "be faced with much higher tariffs." This statement followed the court's ruling invalidating IEEPA-based tariffs, while Trump later stated that he would implement a 15% global tariff through Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974.
In Asia, focus was also on China's Loan Prime Rate (LPR) decision, with the 1-year LPR used as a benchmark for new commercial loans and the 5-year LPR used as a benchmark for property loans. Mainland Chinese markets were scheduled to reopen after the Lunar New Year holiday, while Hang Seng futures were at 26,869, lower than their previous close of 27,081.91.
Major Asian indices tended to be positive: South Korea's Kospi continued its record-setting streak with a 0.24% gain, and the Kosdaq rose 0.56%. Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 0.23%, while the Topix was flat. Australia's ASX 200 also edged up 0.12%.
Meanwhile, in the US, pressure remained strong in the technology and cybersecurity sectors, as "AI disruption" became a key theme. Software stocks like Microsoft fell 3% and CrowdStrike fell nearly 10% after Anthropic introduced a new security tool based on Claude, which claims to be able to absorb code vulnerabilities and provide solutions, raising concerns that AI could replace traditional security services. (asd)
Source: Newsmaker.id
