Asian stocks plunged after a rough session on Wall Street, with lingering uncertainty over US President Donald Trump’s trade policies adding to market volatility.
Bitcoin initially dropped 5.7% following Mr. Trump’s executive order to establish a “Strategic Bitcoin Reserve” without any plans for public cryptocurrency purchases. However, the digital currency later bounced back, ending the session 2.2% lower at $87,951.
Major Asian indices were mostly in negative territory, despite Mr. Trump’s decision on Thursday to postpone certain tariffs on Canada and Mexico. The President, however, maintained that the broad tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, set to take effect next week, would remain unchanged.
In Tokyo, heavy selling of technology stocks led the Nikkei 225 to decline by 2.3% to 36,856.39, with notable drops from tech players such as Tokyo Electron, which fell by 3.6%, and Advantest, down 2.3%—both mirroring steep losses in their US-listed shares.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index managed a modest gain of 0.6% to 24,504.80, while the Shanghai Composite remained virtually flat at 3,381.33.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 1.8% to 7,951.90, South Korea’s Kospi inched down by 0.1% to 2,574.06, and Taiwan’s Taiex slipped by 0.7%. Meanwhile, India’s Sensex declined by 0.7%, contrasting with a 0.7% rise in Bangkok’s SET.
On Wall Street, the selling pressure resumed on Thursday. The US market, rattled by the uncertainty stemming from Mr. Trump’s tariff policies, saw the S&P 500 plunge 1.8% to 5,738.52 after a brief recovery on Wednesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1% to 42,579.08, and the Nasdaq Composite fell 2.6% to 18,069.26—remaining over 10% below its December record.
These declines occurred even after President Trump offered a one-month reprieve from his 25% tariffs on many imports from Mexico and Canada, in contrast to the boost stocks received the previous day when a one-month exemption was granted specifically for US carmakers.
In the bond market, yields on benchmark 10-year US Treasury notes fell to 4.276% from 4.326% late on Wednesday.
