Equities in Thailand, Taiwan and South Korea rose on Tuesday, bouncing back from multi-month lows hit in the previous session due to worries about the impact of U.S. reciprocal tariffs, while currencies stayed under pressure.
Thai shares snapped a three-session losing run to advance nearly 1%.
Stocks in Taiwan, among the so-called “Dirty 15” that have the highest trade surpluses with the U.S., jumped 2.8%. They have slid over 7% in four sessions and hit a near eight-month low on Monday.
“It is probably just a short-term technical rebound in many markets because they have been down significantly since the beginning of this year,” said Poon Panichpibool, a markets strategist at Krung Thai Bank.
South Korean shares rose 1.6% after the Constitutional Court said that its long-awaited ruling on President Yoon Suk Yeol’s impeachment would be delivered this week, reducing political uncertainty.
They had lost over 6% in three sessions and dropped to a two-month low on Monday, the first day of trading after the full lift of the short-selling ban for the first time in five years.
Asia stocks slide, gold hits record high on US tariffs
However, the market sentiment remained tense as investors braced for U.S. President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs due to be announced on Wednesday. Trump said late on Sunday that essentially all countries will be slapped with duties.
“Inevitably, the likes of Vietnam, Taiwan, Korea, with a substantial trade surplus, will again face renewed scrutiny and even the likes of Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia may not be entirely off the hook … ,” Mizuho Bank analysts said in a note.
Most regional currencies inched lower as the dollar steadied.
The Thai baht fell 0.5% to a near one-month low, while the Taiwanese dollar’s 0.1% dip kept it near March 2016 lows.
The Malaysian and Indonesian financial markets were closed for a public holiday, as was the stock market in the Philippines and the forex market in India.
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