US President Donald Trump’s decision to pause tariffs on all countries except China for 90 days is expected to see the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) register its best single-day performance since Covid.
Ahead of market open, the ASX 200 futures suggested a 6.72%, or 497-point, rally was in store for today’s (10 April) session.
Shortly after the opening bell, the S&P/ASX 200 spiked 368.10 points, or 4.99%, to 7,743.1 points. The index has lost 1.48% over the past five trading sessions and is 1.34% lower in the past year.
ANZ Rates Strategist Jack Chambers says the tariff situation developed at “breakneck pace” overnight (AEST).
The tit-for-tat tariff war between the US and China escalated with the Asian behemoth slapping an 84% tax on US goods, which pushed Trump to immediately lift tariffs on China to 125%.
“But while Trump singled out China with an escalatory response, he then pivoted and announced a 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs greater than 10% against all other countries, also effective immediately,” Chambers says.
“So the 10% baseline tariff will stay, and larger tariffs are on hold, having been in effect for just over 12 hours.”
All 11 sectors of the S&P/ASX 200 rallied today, with materials the second best performing sector on a 6.48% spike in early trade. The financial sector jumped 5.56%, while utilities advanced 4.19% and energy gained 1.51%.
The pause in US tariffs saw commodities recover some ground, with the ANZ China Commodity Index edging up 0.3%.
Gold climbed over 3.6% to US$3,086 ($5,038) an ounce, silver rallied 4.2% to around US$31 an ounce while copper spiked 8.2% to US$9,677 a tonne earlier this morning.
Copper producer Sandfire Resources (ASX:SFR) rallied 14.85% to $9.36, while diversified miner IGO (ASX:IGO) jumped 14.1% to $3.56. Mineral Resources (ASX:MIN) also recouped some of its losses, adding back 13.54% to trade at $16.35 early in the session.
However, Chambers warned metal markets are likely to remain nervous with China becoming the increasing focus of Trump.
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
