Asian Shares Mixed On Tariff Worries; Chinese Tech Stocks Surge

(RTTNews) - Asian stocks ended mixed on Monday following U.S. President Donald Trump's pledge to impose tariffs on all imports of steel and aluminum, and introduce reciprocal tariffs on many countries this week in another major escalation of his trade policy overhaul. Investors also looked ahead to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's upcoming semi-annual congressional testimony to judge the costs of tariffs and other policy shifts on easing plans.

The U.S. dollar climbed amid the heightened tariff angst and on inflation concerns ahead of key U.S. inflation reading due this week.

Spot gold price jumped more than 1 percent to hit a new record high. Oil prices also traded higher in Asian trade after a string of weekly declines.

Chinese markets advanced as mixed inflation data raised hopes that Beijing could roll out more stimulus measures such as interest rate cuts or infrastructure spending to boost growth.

China's consumer inflation accelerated for the first time since August, helped by a burst of household spending around the Lunar New Year holiday, while the producer price index (PPI) saw consistent declines, separate reports revealed.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite index edged up by 0.56 percent to 3,322.17 as China's tit-for-tat import taxes on some American goods take effect.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index jumped 1.84 percent to 21,521.98, led by Chinese AI-related stocks. Baidu rallied 3.7 percent and Alibaba surged 5.5 percent.

Xiaomi Corp, which is reportedly working on a Snapdragon 8s Elite-powered midrange device, climbed 3.1 percent.

Japanese markets fluctuated before ending on a mixed not as Trump threatened tariffs on Japanese goods if the U.S. trade deficit with Tokyo is not equalized.

The Nikkei average finished marginally higher at 38,801.17 while the broader Topix index settled 0.15 percent lower at 2,733.01. Seoul stocks ended little changed, with the Kospi average finishing marginally lower at 2,521.27. Hyundai Steel fell more than 2 percent and POSCO Holdings shed 0.8 percent Australian markets ended modestly lower, with mining stocks leading losses. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 dropped 0.34 percent to 8,482.80 while the broader All Ordinaries index ended 0.37 percent lower at 8,747.60.

BHP Group shares dropped nearly 1 percent, Rio Tinto gave up 1.2 percent and Fortescue Metals Group fell 1.5 percent. "Australian steel and aluminium is creating thousands of good paying American jobs, and are key for our shared defence interests," Trade Minister Don Farrell said in a statement. Across the Tasman, New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX-50 index slipped 0.20 percent to 12,876.35. U.S. stocks tumbled on Friday amid fresh tariff and inflation jitters.

Meanwhile, the latest jobs report painted a mixed picture, with the unemployment rate ticking down to 4 percent while fewer jobs than expected were added in January.

Nonfarm payrolls rose by 143,000 jobs last month, significantly lower than the revised 307,000 in December and missing forecast of 169,000.

A gauge of U.S. consumer sentiment unexpectedly fell in February, but one-year inflation expectations moved up to 4.3 percent from 3.3 percent -- the highest reading since 2023.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite shed 1.4 percent, while the Dow and the S&P 500 both lost around 1 percent.