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Asia-Pacific markets closed mixed as investors assessed the Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting of leaders in Tianjin, with tariff uncertainty weighing on sentiment.
This comes after a U.S. federal appeals court on Friday ruled that most of President Donald Trump’s global tariffs were illegal.
Trump said Monday that India had offered to reduce its tariffs on U.S. imports to zero. “They have now offered to cut their Tariffs to nothing, but it’s getting late. They should have done so years ago,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. He added that the U.S.’ relationship with India was “one sided.”
India’s benchmark Nifty 50 was up 0.28%, while the BSE Sensex index had advanced 0.26% as of 1:40 p.m. Indian Standard Time (4:10 a.m. ET).
Japan’s Nikkei 225 ended the day 0.29% higher at 42,310.49 after choppy trade, while the broader Topix index moved up 0.61% to 3,081.88.
Suntory Beverage & Food came in the spotlight following reports that its CEO and Chairman Takeshi Niinami resigned after a police investigation into his purchase of a potentially illegal supplement.
Shares of the Japanese soft drinks and wellness food products producer ended the day 2.94% higher.
Over in South Korea, the Kospi index increased by 0.94% to 3,172.35, while the small-cap Kosdaq added 1.15% to 794. The country’s consumer price index rose 1.7% in August from the year before, after increasing by 2.1% the month before. This marks its slowest year-on-year rise since November and is marginally weaker than the 2% rise forecast by economists in a Reuters poll.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 0.47% to close at 25,496.55 while mainland China’s CSI 300 dropped 0.74% to 4,490.45.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 moved down 0.3% to end the day at 8,900.60.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission said that its review panel had imposed a fine of $3.88 million Australian dollars ($2.52 million) on a local unit of French lender Societe Generale for failing to prevent suspicious orders in the electricity and wheat futures markets.
An investigation by the regulatory body found that Societe Generale Securities Australia, which is one of the largest participants on the ASX 24 derivatives market, had allowed two of its clients to place 33 suspicious orders between May 2023 and February 2024. That “volatile period” saw supply issues in global energy and wheat markets caused by the Russia-Ukrainian War, among other factors, the panel said.
Meanwhile, the country’s current account balance for the April to June quarter came in at a deficit of AU$13.7 billion Australian dollars, compared to the AU$14.7 billion deficit the quarter before and the AU$16 billion deficit forecast by economists polled by Reuters.
Spot gold was trading flat at $3,472.79 as of 4:10 a.m. ET, after hitting a record high of $3,503.32 per ounce earlier in the session.
U.S. equity futures were little changed at the start of what has historically been a poor month for equities, following new uncertainty about tariffs after the court decision.
U.S. markets were closed Monday for the Labor Day public holiday.
