STI, Asian markets rebound after Trump backs off on Greenland tariffs

[SINGAPORE] Asian markets rebounded on Thursday (Jan 22) morning as Wall Street closed higher after news that a Greenland deal framework has been reached.

US President Donald Trump said that he would not be imposing the additional tariffs that were set to go into effect on Feb 1 after forming “the framework of a future deal with respect to Greenland and, in fact, the entire Arctic region”.

Asian markets followed Wall Street, which climbed after its worst sell-off in three months, with the Straits Times Index (STI) climbing nearly 0.6 per cent as at 9.20 am. Leading the charge was UOB, which was up almost 2 per cent at the same time.

In Malaysia, the Kuala Lumpur Composite Index was up about 0.4 per cent as at 9.25 am.

South Korea’s Kospi benchmark on Thursday also topped 5,000 points for the first time, at 9.09 am in Singapore, climbing 2.1 per cent after gains in chipmakers such as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. It pared some gains to be 1.6 per cent up as at 9.20 am Singapore time.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 was up 1.1 per cent as at 9.08 am in Singapore, while the Topix was up 0.8 per cent.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index also climbed 0.6 per cent as at 9.26 am and Shanghai’s CSI 300 was up 0.4 per cent.

Outside Asia, the pan-European Stoxx 600 ended flat at 602.67 points, paring its losses of nearly 1 per cent earlier in the session.

Meanwhile, gold slipped as much as 1 per cent to US$4,785.53 as at 8.19 am in Singapore, and spot silver slid 1.9 per cent to US$91.26.