Australian share market bounces back after Trump announces major backtrack on ‘hardball’ tariffs
The Australian share market has bounced back after Donald Trump hinted he would reconsider some of his more punitive import tariffs on China.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 was 1.5 per cent firmer during the first two hours of Wednesday trade.
While the stock market is still well below February’s record high peak, the 7,947-point level reached before lunchtime was the highest since late March, before the Trump Administration announced a series of broad-based tariffs, including 10 per cent on Australia.
This had led to a trade war with China, Australia’s biggest trading partner, which saw the United States impose 145 per cent tariffs on its key geopolitical rival as part of a tit-for-tat manoevre.
Australia’s share market and superannuation balances, in the first week of April, had suffered the biggest falls since the start of Covid in March 2020, but the worst may be over.
Moomoo market strategist Jessica Amir said US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s hint of new trade deals, including with China, had buoyed Wall Street on Tuesday night, in turn helping the Australian market.
American Vice President JD Vance has also hinted at trade deals with India and Japan.
‘Firstly, there’s hope the White House will seal trade deals with top economic partners,’ Ms Amir said.
The Australian share market has bounced back after Donald Trump hinted he would reconsider some of his more punitive import tariffs on China
Australia’s mining giants, the heavily export to China, had big gains, as tech stocks soared a fortnight after a bloodbath.
BHP saw its share price surge 2.99 per cent to $37.60 as Rio Tinto climbed 2.37 per cent to $114.26 and iron ore player Fortescue Metals Group rose 2.74 per cent to $15.36.
Tech stocks, that took a hammering a fortnight ago, were also making a comeback with ZipCo up 2.65 per cent to $1.55 as Life360 soared 6.25 per cent to $20.57.
‘Despite all the noise, investors should remember that after every market crash we’ve seen recovery – across the S&P 500, the Nasdaq, and the ASX 200,’ Ms Amir said.
‘Tech stocks have often fallen the hardest but seen the strongest rallies on the way back up.’
The share market also took heart from Trump backing down on a threat to fire US Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell, giving investors confidence that interest rate settings would be independently determined without political interference.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 was 1.5 per cent firmer during the first two hours of Wednesday trade as investors took heat from the Trump Administration looking to sign trade deals (US President Donald Trump is pictured in front of a portrait of a Republican predecessor Ronald Reagan)
