Asia-Pacific markets were mixed on Wednesday, after all three benchmarks on Wall Street whipsawed on uncertainty over U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff plans and fears of a recession in the world’s largest economy.
The White House confirmed that the 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum would take effect on Canada and other nations from Wednesday state side, but added that Trump no longer plans to raise tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum imports to 50%.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index ended the day flat at 36,819.09, while the broader Topix index gained 0.91% to close at 2,694.91.
Shares in automaker Nissan increased 0.61%, in choppy trade, following an announcement that CEO Makoto Uchida will step down from his position on April 1. He will be replaced by Ivan Espinosa, the company’s current chief planning officer.
The company had been in talks with Honda Motor to merge and create what would have been the world’s third-largest automaker by sales. Discussions on this were terminated, but Honda had reportedly said it was open to resuming merger talks after Uchida steps down.
Shares in Honda, meanwhile, fell 0.14%.
Japan’s annual wholesale inflation hit 4% in February, slowing from the seven-month high of 4.2% the month before.
The latest reading is still well above the country’s 2% inflation target and raises bets that the Bank of Japan will hike interest rates.
Nomura expects the central bank to hike rates by “25 basis points apiece in July 2025 and January 2026 as a means of adjusting the degree of monetary easing.”
This follows expectations for “a virtuous cycle between wages and prices to edge upwards,” the investment bank’s economists wrote in a Wednesday note.
South Korea’s Kospi index closed 1.47% higher at 2,574.82, while the small-cap Kosdaq advanced 1.11% to end at 729.49.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 1.36% in its last hour, while mainland China’s CSI 300 lost 0.36% to close at 3,927.23.
China’s 10-year government bond yield is now hovering at 1.918% and is edging up to the 2% key psychological level. Meanwhile, the 30-year yield was at 2.015%, after it rose above the 2% level on Monday.
Tech player Robosense was among the top movers in the Hong Kong market, with shares rising as much as 18.28% at one point. Strong gains were also seen in jewelry chain Chow Tai Fook which advanced as much as 7.15%.
Meanwhile, losses in Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 widened to 1.32% to end the day at 7,786.20.
Elsewhere, India’s benchmark Nifty 50 fell 0.55%, while BSE Sensex was down 0.34% as at 1.15 p.m. local time.
Speaking at CNBC’s CONVERGE LIVE, Ashish Chauhan, managing director and chief executive officer of the National Stock Exchange of India noted that the South Asian powerhouse raised $19.2 billion in listings last year.
That “was the largest in the world,” he said.
So far this year, Chauhan said that the listings on the Indian market are “still continuing, not with the same speed.”
“If the market comes up … you will see many more IPOs [initial public offerings] going forward,” he added.
India is expected to release its inflation figures for February later in the day. Economists polled by Reuters expect it to slow to 3.98% from 5.68% in January.
Overnight in the U.S., stocks slid stocks slid amid uncertainty over the new tariffs proposed by Trump that were in flux throughout most of Tuesday. The trade policy uncertainty has brought the benchmark to the brink of a correction, which is defined as a decline of 10% from its high.
The S&P 500 ended the session 0.76% lower, falling to 5,572.07. At its low of Tuesday’s session, the index was 10% below its record close. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 478.23 points, or 1.14%, to close at 41,433.48. The Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.18%, closing at 17,436.10.
The S&P 500 was in the green at one point during the trading session before Trump declared on Truth Social that Canadian steel and aluminum duties would double to 50% from 25%, effective Wednesday. The president made the move in response to Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s surcharge on electricity exported to the U.S.
Tim Murray, capital markets strategist at T. Rowe Price’s multi‑asset division, expects the “uncertainty to persist over the near-term as [the Trump] administration continues to take aggressive policy actions to achieve longer-term goals.”
These factors “will likely weigh on growth and market sentiment, and possibly reignite inflation,” he explained.
Still, Murray expects bonds to “continue to offer support,” as yields potentially decline in the near-term.
Looking ahead, he believes the U.S. Federal Reserve and other central banks “will likely step in to stabilize growth if the economy and labor markets deteriorate more quickly, with controlling inflation possibly taking a backseat.”
CNBC will be hosting “CONVERGE LIVE,” an inaugural thought leadership event on March 12-13, 2025, in Singapore, where global business leaders, entrepreneurs, investors and key decision-makers will discuss what it means to innovate and grow by collaborating and sharing ideas across industries.
Viewers can watch the live stream of the event and hear from speakers including Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister Kim Yong Gan, Alibaba Group Chairman Joe Tsai, Bridgewater Associates Founder Ray Dalio, and Salesforce CEO, chair, and co-founder Marc Benioff and others here.
— CNBC’s Lisa Kailai Han and Sean Conlon contributed to this report.
