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Asia-Pacific markets mostly rise as investors assess Trump tariff impact

Amala Balakrishner
Lee Ying Shan

This is CNBC's live blog covering Asia-Pacific markets.

Yusuf Gandhi | 500Px | Getty Images

Asia-Pacific markets mostly rose Wednesday as investors digested U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff impact on regional economies.

U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, meanwhile, re-emphasized on Tuesday the central bank's focus on curbing inflation and signaled that policymakers were not in a rush to push interest rates lower.

Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 0.42% to close at 38,963.70 after resuming trading following a holiday, while the Topix closed flat at 2,733.33. South Korea's Kospi added 0.37% to end the day at 2,548.39, while the small-cap Kosdaq fell 0.59% to close at 745.18.


Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was up 2.41% in its final hour of trade. Mainland China's CSI 300 added 0.95% to close at 3,919.86.

India is slated to report its inflation data for January.

The benchmark Nifty 50 was up 0.19%, while the BSE Sensex index was flat as at 1.30 p.m. local time.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 ended the day up 0.6% at 8,535.30.

SoftBank Group's third-quarter earnings fell short of analyst expectations as investments under its Vision Funds fell into the red. The company posted a surprise net loss of 369.17 billion yen ($2.4 billion), while LSEG had estimated a profit of 298.53 billion yen.

Overnight in the U.S., the three major averages closed mixed. The S&P 500 added 0.03% to end at 6,068.50, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 0.36% to close at 19,643.86. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 123.24 points, or 0.28%, to 44,593.65.

Powell's testimony comes at a volatile time in Washington with President Donald Trump favoring tariffs against U.S. trading partners and with mixed messages coming from the administration on its approach to the Fed.

Powell said the current policy stance, with the benchmark Fed funds rate in a range between 4.25% and 4.5%, is providing flexibility. The Federal Open Market Committee held the rate in place at its late-January meeting.

— CNBC's Jeff Cox, Pia Singh, Hakyung Kim and Dylan Butts contributed to this report.

No export growth in China, no US Fed cuts in 2025, says Nomura

Analysts from financial services group Nomura said exports will became a "growth drag" for China instead of a growth driver in 2025.

In a Feb. 11 note, Nomura forecasts that exports growth in China will slow to 0%, which will prompt Beijing to spur greater policy efforts, to boost domestic demand.

The company said that tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump will cause the Federal Reserve to hold rates steady throughout 2025, and that "significantly more" tariffs ahead will drive core inflation higher.

Nomura's hold call differs from Reuters' poll medians, which show that economists expect the Fed will lower rates twice in 2025.

— Lim Hui Jie

Shares in Meituan fall as much as 7.1% after JD Takeaway launch

Shares in Chinese food delivery platform Meituan fell as much as 7.1% Wednesday after e-commerce giant JD.com entered the food delivery space on Tuesday.

JD.com announced the launch of JD Takeaway on Tuesday. To entice food service companies to use the new service, the company said merchants that register before May 1 will not have to pay commissions for one year, according to Reuters.

Aside from Meituan, Alibaba's Eleme is a dominant player in China's food delivery market.

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Shares in Meituan

— Amala Balakrishner, Reuters

Shares in Alibaba surge to four-month high after partnership with Apple

Shares in Chinese tech giant Alibaba surged nearly 7% Wednesday to hit a nearly four-month high.

This follows news reports that the company is working with Apple to roll out artificial intelligence features for iPhone users in China.

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Shares in Alibaba

The report, citing the tech and finance website The Information, also noted that Apple and Alibaba have submitted the AI features they co-developed for approval from China's cyberspace regulator.

It also noted that Apple had previously worked with Alibaba's rival Baidu, but had been dissatisfied with the progress of the AI models. Apple had also considered AI models from other Chinese tech giants such as Tencent, ByteDance and DeepSeek, the report said.

Chelsey Tam, senior equity analyst at Morningstar says the partnership "validates Alibaba's capabilities in AI," as the right partner will "reinvigorate iPhone sales in China."

Tam said she isn't surprised that Apple is partnering with Alibaba, instead of its peers.

"Tencent, which probably has more diversified data than Baba ... was classified as a Chinese military company in the U.S. and this could potentially be a reason as to why Apple went with Alibaba," she said. "Bytedance [has] yet to resolve its issues regarding TikTok in the U.S. so maybe that is why they were eventually passed over as well," she wrote Wednesday.

Tam said the deal with Apple could see more companies wanting to partner with Alibaba.

Shares in Baidu are down 3.32% while that in Tencent is up 2.25%.

— Amala Balakrishner

Foxconn aims for cooperation with Nissan, not acquisition

Contract electronics manufacturer Foxconn is not looking to buy Nissan Motor, Reuters reported.

Instead, it aims to cooperate — rather than buy— the Japanese automaker, Foxconn chairman Young Liu said.

"Purchasing its shares is not our aim; our aim is cooperation," he told reporters on Wednesday at Foxconn's headquarters in New Taipei.

The statement follows news that Nissan ended merger talks with Honda last week, in a deal that would have created the world's third-largest automaker by sales.

Liu also mentioned that Foxconn is in talks to work with French automaker Renault, which has a 36% stake in Nissan.

Shares in Nissan fell as much as 7.07% on Wednesday.

— Amala Balakrishner, Reuters

Vietnam to raise 2025 growth target to 8% on strong manufacturing activity and investments

The Vietnamese government is likely to raise the country's GDP growth target to 8% this year from 6.5% to 7%, estimated earlier, Reuters reported.

The stronger growth will be led by an expansion in its manufacturing output and foreign investments, Vietnam's Minister of planning and investment Nguyen Chi Duong reportedly said in parliament on Wednesday.

He also foresees a 12% growth in Vietnam's imports and exports this year, bringing its trade surplus to around $30 billion.

The Southeast Asian country is among the beneficiaries of the "China Plus One" strategy that has nudged companies to diversify their supply chains and operations out of China.

Its GDP expanded by 7.09% in 2024, thanks to broad-based growth across its services, industrial and agro-forestry-fishery sectors.

— Amala Balakrishner, Reuters

Stocks end Tuesday little changed

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended Monday's trading session 123.24 points higher, or 0.28%, to close at 44,593.65. The S&P 500 gained 0.03% to end at 6,068.50, and the Nasdaq Composite slid 0.36% lower to close at 19,643.86.

— Pia Singh