AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko
JAKARTA (Reuters): Most emerging market stocks had a positive start to the week after the US and China struck a deal to slash trade tariffs, while signs of easing geopolitical tensions in various parts of the world further aided sentiment.
MSCI's index tracking emerging market stocks rose 1.8% on Monday to touch levels last seen in October after the two economic superpowers agreed a 90-day pause on measures and said that tariffs would come down by over 100 percentage points to a 10% baseline rate.
"The overall scenario is not as bad as it could have been, but we still have a fair amount of uncertainty about where these tariffs will settle, their impact on world growth and central bank policy," said Jane Foley, head of FX strategy at Rabobank.
Global financial markets have been recovering from significant volatility after Trump paused some of his tariffs on the United States' trade partners, with MSCI's EM stocks index up more than 15% since the worst of the rout in early April.
Monday's trade agreement helped Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rally 3% and Chinese stocks closed about 1% higher. The offshore yuan appreciated 0.5% against the dollar - its biggest one-day jump in over a week. U.S. stock futures also extended gains following the announcement.
A broader emerging markets currencies gauge was flat as the greenback firmed 1%, reflecting renewed confidence in the U.S. currency that had taken a beating in April and consequently sparked a rally in Asian currencies, particularly the Taiwanese dollar. Taiwan's currency depreciated 0.7% on Monday.
Pakistani stocks jumped 9.9% - their biggest one-day gain since 1998, while hard currency bonds maturing in 2031 rose more than four cents on the dollar, after the country and India reached a truce following the worst cross-border clashes in nearly three decades.
A sign-off from the International Monetary Fund executive board on Friday of a $1 billion tranche of Pakistan's $7 billion loan programme also helped sentiment.
Indian stock indexes surged about 3.5%. April inflation data is due later in the day.
Turkish stocks were 3.2% higher, with banks gaining 3.7% after the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group, which has been locked in bloody conflict with the Turkish state for more than four decades, decided to disband and end its armed struggle, according to a report.
The country's hard currency bonds were slightly higher, while the lira was broadly flat.
Traders also watched for potential Russia-Ukraine talks after President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he was ready to meet with Vladimir Putin in Turkey on Thursday.
Kyiv's international bonds maturing in 2030 and 2035 each added more than two cents on the dollar, while Russia's rouble appreciated 2%.
Romania's leu edged up 0.3%, recovering from its biggest weekly decline since February 2010 after eurosceptic presidential candidate George Simion's victory in a first-round vote deepened a political crisis and sparked a selloff in the currency that forced the central bank to intervene.
(Reporting by Johann M Cherian in Bengaluru; Editing by Kirsten Donovan) - Reuters
