US President Donald Trump has been allowed to stay the course with his tariffs – for now anyway – while he appeals a court ruling that found most of his tariffs are illegal.
This saw the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) edge lower, with the S&P/ASX200 slipping 16 points, or 0.19%, to 8,393.8 points by 10.30am (AEST).
Over the past five trading sessions, the index has gained 0.39% and is 2.57% off its 52-week high.
Trump has launched an appeal against the US Court of International Trade ruling that he had exceeded his authority in invoking the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to justify his tariffs.
Mahjabeen Zaman, Head of FX Research at ANZ, says the Trump administration’s policymakers downplayed the implications of the ruling, with trade adviser Peter Navarro saying that the administration has several options and that nothing has changed.
“The appeal process could drag on for months, adding to trade policy uncertainty,” Zaman notes.
“Legal experts have suggested that the administration does indeed have other legal authorities to levy tariffs, but those wouldn’t be as broad-based as the IEEPA.”
This combined with weak economic data and a lower US dollar saw gold rebound back above US$3,300 ($5,118) an ounce overnight (AEST).
“This was aided by a rally in bonds, which saw the yield on 10-year US Treasuries fall,” Zaman says.
Ten of the 11 sectors on the SP/ASX200 started the session lower. Industrials is the best performing sector in early trade, inching up 0.04% and advancing 0.9% over the past week.
Utilities fell 0.3%, energy was down 0.17%, materials dipped 0.1% and the financial sector was only marginally lower, with a 0.04% edge down.
Gold miner Capricorn Metals (ASX:CMM) climbed 1.6% to $9.54 shortly after the opening bell. Paladin Energy (ASX:PDN) tumbled a further 4.81% to $5.85, Liontown Resources (ASX:LTR) slid 4% to $0.60, Boss Energy (ASX:BOE) retreated 3.52% to $3.84, Alcoa (ASX:AAI) fell 3.44% to $42.92 and Deep Yellow (ASX:DYL) started the session down 3.16% at $1.30.
The S&P/ASX200 is Australia’s leading share market index and contains the top 200 ASX-listed companies in terms of market capitalisation, and accounts for about 80% of the country’s equity market. The index is designed to measure the performance of the 200 largest index-eligible stocks listed on the ASX by float-adjusted market capitalisation.
It is recognised as the institutional investable benchmark in the country.
Write to Angela East at Mining.com.au
Images: iStock
