- Australian share market rallied on Thursday
Australia’s share market has soared in early trade after Donald Trump backflipped on tariffs – giving nervous retirees who live off their super some relief.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 was 6.34 per cent firmer during the first 10 minutes of trade, adding $174billion to shares.
This wasn’t quite enough to undo the heavy losses of Monday and Wednesday – marking the worst few days since the start of Covid in March 2020.
But it marked the best start to a session in five years after Trump announced a 90-day pause on tariffs to countries like Australia, and is likely to boost superannuation savings after a bad week.
Australia’s recovery was less dramatic than the 9.52 per cent surge on Wall Street’s S&P500 – the best comeback since the dark days of the Global Financial Crisis in 2008.
The Australian Securities Exchange rebound also wasn’t quite as buoyant as a futures market prediction of a 6.72 per cent surge for Thursday.
By 10.30 AEST, the S&P/ASX200 was up 5.17 per cent to 7,756.8 points.
Trump’s new tariff pause did not include China, Australia’s biggest trading partner, which is being smashed with new 125 per cent tariffs after it responded in kind by hiking duties on American imports to 84 per cent.
Australia’s share market has soared in early trade after Donald Trump backflipped on tariffs
But the Trump Administration’s 90-day pause could potentially see the US revisit its 10 per cent tariffs on Australia – a country it has had a trade surplus with since 1952.
Moomoo market strategist Jessica Amir said it was too soon to see a sustained share market rally during a volatile time given no policy change has yet occurred.
‘Happy days, right? Well, just be cautious. It’s just a pause, not a ban,’ she said.
‘Negotiations are expected to take place, with Trump saying countries who “do not retaliate”, “will be rewarded”.’
Ms Amir said the Trump Administration was fearful of losing investment, given the high tariff barriers were designed to protect American industry from foreign competition with a tariff wall.
‘There were indications of that destructiveness in corporates starting to pull big plans to invest in America, and concerns that jobs would be cut next,’ she said.
‘Well, he said it’s because people were “a bit yippy” and afraid.
‘In reality, it seems he’s afraid that his master plans to “make America great again” through the imposition of tariffs would be destructive.’
Microsoft had abandoned a $US1billion plan for a new data centre in Ohio, a traditional battleground state Trump had won in the 2024 presidential election.
Trump’s new tariff pause did not include China , Australia’s biggest trading partner, which is being smashed with new 125 per cent tariffs after it responded in kind by hiking duties on American imports to 84 per cent
