Reports that various countries are working quickly to bed down trade deals with the US is keeping the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) in positive territory to start the week.
News over the weekend that some electronic devices, like smartphones and computers, coming from China into the US will remain free from President Donald Trump’s tariffs also helped the upward momentum.
The S&P/ASX 200 added 53.9 points, or 0.7%, to sit at 7,700.4 points by 10.30am (AEST) on Monday (14 April).
The index has recovered 0.43% over the past five days but is still down 5.62% since the start of 2025.
Materials was the best performing sector in early trade, advancing 1.25% this morning and gaining 0.95% over the past five trading sessions. Energy rose 0.23%, utilities climbed 0.22% and industrials edged up 0.16%.
ANZ Economist Aaron Luk says the tariff rate between the two largest trading nations in the world – China and the US – are now “prohibitively high”.
“Chinese policymakers said that given the US goods are no longer marketable in China at prevalent tariff rates, if the US raises tariffs further, China will disregard such measures,” Luk says.
“That signals a near-term ceiling on retaliatory measures, but it also looks more like a stalemate than progress.
“Whether the US decision to exempt smartphones, computers and several other electronic items become the first step in a wider de-escalation remains to be seen, especially since the administration has now said the exemption is only temporary.”
Gold continues hitting record highs as investors favour safehaven assets in this volatile market.
The precious metal advanced 6.6% last week to close above US$3,200 ($5,086) an ounce, with fears of a global recession impacting markets.
“Risks and uncertainty remained high despite Trump announcing a 90-day pause on the reciprocal tariffs,” Luk notes.
Copper also rebounded last week on expectations of further stimulus from China to help offset the impact of Trump’s high tariffs. The price of the red metal is again back above US$10,000 a tonne.
Luk says Chinese leaders met to discuss additional support for housing, consumer spending and technological innovation.
The early top movers today included Mineral Resources (ASX:MIN), which added back another 5.4% to trade at $17.57. The goldies were also in the green, with Newmont rising 4.69% to $87.22 and Ramelius Resources (ASX:RMS) gaining 4.14% to $2.77.
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: ASX & Stock
