ASX set to dip, global markets rise; Wall Street closed

World shares were mixed on Monday as investors watched for further developments after a US court ruled against President Donald Trump’s sweeping higher tariffs.

US markets were to remain closed on Monday for the Labor Day holiday. The futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged 0.1 per cent higher.

European stocks took centre stage. Credit: Reuters

The Australian sharemarket is set to dip, with futures pointing to a loss of 4 points at the open. The ASX lost 0.5 per cent on Monday. The Australian dollar was fetching US65.52¢ at 5.07am AEST.

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled Friday that Trump went too far when he declared national emergencies to justify imposing sharply higher import taxes on almost every country on earth.

The ruling largely upheld a May decision by a specialised federal trade court in New York. But the 7-4 appeals court decision tossed out a part of that ruling striking down the tariffs immediately, allowing the administration time to appeal to the US Supreme Court.

European markets closed higher, with Germany’s DAX adding 0.6 per cent and the CAC 40 in Paris rising 0.1 per cent.

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Britain’s FTSE 100 added 0.1 per cent.

E-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding’s shares traded in Hong Kong rocketed 19 per cent higher after the company reported strong growth in its cloud computing segment and other areas including “instant commerce,” or hyper-fast deliveries at low prices. Alibaba’s US traded shares surged 13.5 per cent on Friday.

A government survey released Saturday showed China’s factory activity improved marginally in August, with the purchasing managers index, or PMI, issued by the National Statistics Bureau rising to 49.4 from 49.3 in July. The survey is on a scale of 0 to 100 where 50 marks the cutoff for expansion.

Another, private sector survey called the RatingDog China General Manufacturing PMI showed the general PMI at 50.5 last month, up from 49.4 in July. Averaging the two surveys yields a PMI of 49.9, suggesting some resilience in the manufacturing sector despite US tariffs of over 50 per cent on Chinese goods, Zichun Huang of Capital Economics said in a commentary.

China and the US are still negotiating over a broad trade agreement.

“The PMIs suggest that China’s economy accelerated last month, thanks to faster growth across manufacturing and services. But we don’t see much upside over the rest of the year,” Huang said.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index fell 1.2 per cent to 42,188.79, while the Kospi in South Korea shed 1.4 per cent to 3,142.93.

Taiwan’s benchmark lost 0.7 per cent and India’s Sensex gained 0.7 per cent.

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Shares sank 1.2 per cent in Jakarta after Indonesia’s president, Prabowo Subianto, pledged on Sunday to revoke lawmakers’ perks and privileges, to try to ease public fury after nationwide protests left six people dead. It was a rare concession in response to mounting public anger.

AP

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