Asian-Pacific equities excluding China saw a decline in response to the recent announcement by incoming US President Donald Trump. On Monday, Trump stated that he would be imposing tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China on his first day in office.
Japanese equities performed poorly, with the Topix index dropping by 1.1% and the Nikkei 225 losing 1.5% in early trading. However, China and Hong Kong’s stock markets experienced gains during early trading.
In Taipei, the Taiex, which has a significant focus on semiconductors, fell by 1%. This decline was attributed to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company’s 1.5% drop following Nvidia’s 4% decrease in US shares on Monday. TSMC is a crucial supplier of artificial intelligence chips for Nvidia.
Currencies across the region weakened against the US dollar, with the exception of Japan’s yen, which remained flat. The Australian and New Zealand dollar were the hardest hit, both falling by 0.5%.
