Asian shares won some respite on Tuesday after Washington temporarily eased trade restrictions imposed last week on China’s Huawei, although fears of a further escalation in tensions kept investors on edge.
Asian Shares
- MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.35%.
- Japan’s Nikkei fell 0.4%.
- The blue-chip CSI300 index rose 1.0%.
- In New York, the S&P 500 lost 0.67% while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.46%.
- The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell 4.02% to two-month lows.
- Huawei suppliers took a hit, with Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) falling 6.0% and Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) 4.0%.
Currency
- The euro was under pressure ahead of the European election this weekend but was little moved at $1.1165, off Monday’s low of $1.1150, its lowest level since May 3.
- The dollar was little changed at 110.21 yen Monday’s near two-week high of 110.32 yen.
- The British pound was listless near four-month lows, trading at $1.2730.
- The yuan firmed slightly to 6.9040 to the dollar in onshore trade, still not far from a 5-1/2-month low of 6.9188.
- The Australian dollar dipped 0.2% to $0.6891 after Australia’s central bank governor said he would consider the case for lower interest rates at its June policy meeting.
Commodities
Oil prices held near multi-week highs as OPEC indicated it was likely to maintain production cuts while escalating Middle East tensions provided further support.
- Brent crude futures traded up 0.25% at $72.16 per barrel.
- U.S. crude futures fetched $63.30 per barrel, up 0.3 percent.