Markets Bounce from Seoul to London after Trump-India Buzz and RBA Move

CNBC, Bloomberg, Reuters, and the Wall Street Journal contributed to this report.

Asia-Pacific stocks climbed on Tuesday, with big gains across the board after Wall Street’s rebound and a flurry of headline news that finally calmed nerves – at least for a day. Investors cheered a surprise trade flourish between the US and India, a hefty tech rebound in Korea and Australia’s central bank doing what markets expected.

South Korea led the charge: the KOSPI surged almost 7% to 5,288, briefly tripping a trading “sidecar” after futures leapt more than 5% in a minute. Memory-chip names that had been hammered on Monday rallied hard – SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics each climbed double digits as traders snapped up beaten-up tech names. The small-cap Kosdaq also bounced.

India’s markets got a jolt after President Donald Trump posted that Washington and New Delhi had struck a trade deal and that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had agreed to boost US purchases – comments that sent the Nifty higher at the open. The plan, as Trump described it, would see lower tariffs and a shift in some oil buying away from Russia toward the US, lifting sentiment in Asia.

Japan’s Nikkei kept its hot streak, closing at fresh highs, while China and Hong Kong also edged up as risk appetite returned. In Europe, the Stoxx 600 was up, with mining and basic-resources stocks leading after precious metals staged a relief rally following last week’s meltdown.

Australia wasn’t left out: the Reserve Bank of Australia raised its cash rate by 25 basis points to 3.85% – a move markets had banked on – and the Aussie currency jumped on the news. Banks quickly passed on higher rates to borrowers, and traders are now pencilling in the possibility of more tightening if inflation stays sticky.

Precious metals remain a watchpoint. After last week’s dramatic sell-off – silver’s collapse and gold’s plunge scared a lot of leveraged bets – both metals bounced back, helping mining stocks recover some ground. But the wild swings have left traders cautious, and many investors are still digesting the rapid unwinding of crowded positions.

Bottom line: headlines did most of the heavy lifting – a Trump-Modi trade tease, a Korea tech snapback and a predictable RBA hike were enough to flip markets higher. Whether the calm sticks depends on follow-through: traders will be watching hard data, earnings and whether that US-India deal holds up under scrutiny.