Asian markets rallied on Monday as tensions over trade eased slightly after US President Donald Trump said electronics such as computer chips, smart phones and laptops would not be subject to the same high import duties as some other products.
US futures also gained after a rally Friday on Wall Street.
However, a weaker US dollar and lower oil prices hinted at persisting worries over the direction of Trump's trade war.
In early European trading, Germany's DAX gained 1.9 per cent to 20,752.94, while the CAC 40 in Paris was up 1.8 per cent at 7,235.36. Britain's FTSE 100 added 1.6 per cent to 8,091.14.
The future for the S and P 500 gained 1.1 per cent while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.6 per cent.
Asian shares logged sturdy gains. Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 1.2 per cent to 33,982.36 and South Korea's Kospi gained 1 per cent to 2,455.89.
Shares in technology companies surged, with Tokyo Electron up 1.4 per cent and Advantest, a testing equipment maker, up 4.9 per cent. South Korea's biggest company, Samsung Electronics, gained 1.8 per cent.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng jumped 2.3 per cent to 21,397.20, while the Shanghai Composite index picked up 0.8 per cent to 3,262.81 after the government reported that China's exports surged 12.4 per cent in March from a year earlier.
US President Donald Trump said he was temporarily exempting smartphones, computers and other electronics from his tariffs after China announced Friday that it was boosting its tariffs on US products to 125 per cent in the latest tit-for-tat increase following Trump's escalations on imports from China.
The Chinese Ministry of Commerce said Trump's move was “a small step” toward fixing its wrongful action of what Trump calls reciprocal tariffs. It urged him to completely cancel them.
Rising tensions between the world's two largest economies could cause widespread damage and a possible global recession, even after Trump recently announced a 90-day pause on some of his tariffs for other countries, except for China.
Australia's S and P/ASX 200 added 1.3 per cent, closing at 7,748.60.
The Taiex fell 0.1 per cent in Taiwan, whose economy is heavily dependent on exports of computer chips and other high-tech goods after Trump said the new chip tariffs will be announced “over the next week”.
On Friday, the S and P 500 rose 1.8 per cent, capping a chaotic and historic week. The Dow gained 1.6 per cent and the Nasdaq composite jumped 2.1 per cent.
Stocks kicked higher as pressure eased a bit from within the US bond market. It's typically the more boring corner of Wall Street, but it's been flashing serious enough signals of worry this week that it's demanded investors' and Trump's attention.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury was trading at 4.47 per cent early Monday. On Friday, it topped 4.58 per cent in the morning, up from 4.01 per cent a week ago.
That's a major move for a market that typically measures things in hundredths of a percentage point.
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