Asian markets struggle for gains as Wall Street recovers

By Gregor Stuart Hunter SINGAPORE (Reuters) -Asian stocks made a tentative rebound in early trade on Tuesday, with an uneven recovery taking place across regional equity markets after signs that trade negotiations between the U.S. and China remain on track. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was last up 0.5%, while S&P 500 futures advanced 0.3% to extend the rebound from Monday's session on Wall Street after U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said U.S. President Donald Trump remains on track to meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping in South Korea in late October. Wall Street's main indexes ended as much as 2.2% higher on Monday, led by chipmakers, after Trump struck a more conciliatory tone about U.S.-China trade tensions. Broad gains for global equities had gone abruptly into reverse on Friday after Trump announced 100% tariffs on China, reviving memories of the market volatility after April's "Liberation Day" announcement. The selloff only halted after a conciliatory message from the U.S. president on the Truth Social network. Citi analysts wrote in a research report that they do not expect an escalation of trade tensions between Beijing and Washington. "The reason is not so much the reassuring President Trump tweet over the weekend, but the fact that China may be the only country with bargaining power, where the U.S. may have to be more flexible in its negotiation stance."Asian stocks were led by a 2.2% increase in Taiwanese stocks and a 1% gain for South Korea's Kospi index as Samsung Electronics on Tuesday projected a 32% rise in third-quarter operating profit from a year earlier, beating analysts' estimates as demand for conventional memory chips helped offset the company's weaker high bandwidth memory chip sales. Japan's Nikkei stock index was last down 1.2% as the country's markets reopened after a holiday, while Australian shares edged 0.1% lower. Against the yen, the U.S. dollar was last up 0.1% at 152.40 yen. The dollar index, which measures the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was last trading at 99.289. Traders continue to expect easing from the Federal Reserve later this month is a near-certainty. Pricing of Fed funds futures implies a 97.8% probability of a 25-basis-points cut to interest rates at the Federal Open Market Committee's meeting on October 29, compared with a 98.3% chance a day earlier, according to the CME Group's FedWatch tool. The euro was barely moved at $1.1566 after French President Emmanuel Macron rejected calls to resign on Monday, as his latest government was threatened by two no-confidence motions that could bring it down by the end of the week. Brent crude was last up 0.4% at $63.56 per barrel after an OPEC report on Monday showed world oil supply is expected to closely match demand next year as the wider OPEC+ group increases production, marking a change from last month's outlook, which projected a supply shortfall in 2026. Gold gained 0.7% to $4,138.39 per ounce, showing little sign of pausing for breath as precious metals continue to set records. Bitcoin was last down 0.9% at $114,789.90, while Ether slipped 1.5% to $4,223.14. (Reporting by Gregor Stuart Hunter; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)

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