Stocks in Asia posted the biggest jump in two years, while shares in the Middle East and Europe surged, joining a Wall Street relief rally after US President Donald Trump paused some of his sweeping tariffs for 90 days.
The European Union also announced that it will delay for 90 days the implementation of its counter tariffs against the US over the 25 per cent duties Mr Trump imposed on the bloc’s steel and aluminum exports last month.
“We want to give negotiations a chance,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Thursday. “If negotiations are not satisfactory, our countermeasures will kick in,” she wrote on X. “Preparatory work on further countermeasures continues. As I have said before, all options remain on the table.”
Equity benchmarks across Asia rallied after tumultuous trading last week when a rise in tariff threats from Washington and Beijing sent stocks spiralling to record losses.
Japan's Nikkei 225 Index, which slumped more than 3 per cent on Wednesday, rallied 9.13 per cent on Thursday. South Korea's Kospi recovered from a 1.5 per cent fall to surge 6.75 per cent, while Taiwan’s equity benchmark, which fell into bear territory, surged more than 9 per cent. The equity gauge in Australia also jumped more than 4.47 per cent, while shares in Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 2.54 per cent.
China’s Shanghai Composite Index also added 1.16 per cent despite the impending trade war with a stimulus package from Beijing expected to offset the impact of increased US tariffs on the world’s second largest economy.
Stocks gauges in the Middle East also advanced, with the Dubai Financial Market General Index gaining 1.7 per cent. The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange climbed 0.7 per cent, while Saudi Arabia's Tadawul added 3.66 per cent. Stock indexes in Kuwait and Qatar rose 1.2 per cent and 1.9 per cent, respectively.
The broader recovery in stocks in Asia and the Middle East follows a sharp bounce back in US financial markets following the tariff suspension announcement on Wednesday. It comes after the biggest two-day wipeout in the history of US stocks last week, with a combined $6.6 trillion in value erased on Thursday and Friday.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index ended trade with more than 12 per cent gains, while the S&P 500 Index surged 9.25 per cent, its best showing since the global financial crisis. The Dow Jones Index rallied 7.87 per cent.
Mr Trump on Wednesday ordered a 90-day pause on so-called reciprocal tariffs on all countries except China.
The announcement followed warnings from Mr Trump’s billionaire-backers and business leaders of a potential recession caused by the US administration's push for tariffs.
“I have authorised a 90-day pause, and a substantially lowered reciprocal tariff during this period, of 10 per cent, also effective immediately,” Mr Trump wrote on social media.
However, he raised duties on Chinese imports from 104 per cent to 125 per cent after China increased tariffs on US good to 84 per cent.
“Based on the lack of respect that China has shown to the world’s markets, I am hereby raising the tariff charged to China by the United States of America to 125 per cent, effective immediately,” he said.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent later clarified that Mr Trump is maintaining the 10 per cent tariff on nearly all global imports. He said at the White House that the market did not understand the higher tariffs as “those were maximum levels”.
“We think Trump blinked, and the probability of a ‘contained damage’ scenario is rising,” Homin Lee, a senior macro strategist at Lombard Odier in Singapore, told Bloomberg. “We expect Europe and Asia to echo the US relief rally. The punitive tariff rate on China is mostly symbolic at this point.”
European stock climb
The relief rally in equity markets also spread to European stock markets.
European equity markets rallied when they opened, with Euro Stoxx 50 Index adding 5.4 per cent and the FTSE 100 Index in London advancing 4.23 per cent. Stocks measures in Germany and France also advanced 4.6 per cent 4.36 per cent, respectively.
Stocks futures of the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100, however, were 1.98 per cent and 2.39 per cent lower, respectively, after the markets posted record gains a day earlier.
“There’s still an awful lot of volatility to come,” Ben Bennet, head of investment strategy for Asia at L&G, told Bloomberg. “I still think we’re in this correction. So that’s why we would be a seller on strengths.”
T20 World Cup Qualifier A, Muscat
Friday, February 18: 10am - Oman v Nepal, Canada v Philippines; 2pm - Ireland v UAE, Germany v Bahrain
Saturday, February 19: 10am - Oman v Canada, Nepal v Philippines; 2pm - UAE v Germany, Ireland v Bahrain
Monday, February 21: 10am - Ireland v Germany, UAE v Bahrain; 2pm - Nepal v Canada, Oman v Philippines
Tuesday, February 22: 2pm – semi-finals
Thursday, February 24: 2pm – final
UAE squad: Ahmed Raza (captain), Muhammad Waseem, Chirag Suri, Vriitya Aravind, Rohan Mustafa, Kashif Daud, Zahoor Khan, Alishan Sharafu, Raja Akifullah, Karthik Meiyappan, Junaid Siddique, Basil Hameed, Zafar Farid, Mohammed Boota, Mohammed Usman, Rahul Bhatia
All matches to be streamed live on icc.tv
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Power: 503hp at 6,000rpm
Torque: 685Nm at 2,000rpm
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England squad
Moeen Ali, James Anderson, Jofra Archer, Jonny Bairstow, Dominic Bess, James Bracey, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Zak Crawley, Sam Curran, Joe Denly, Ben Foakes, Lewis Gregory, Keaton Jennings, Dan Lawrence, Jack Leach, Saqib Mahmood, Craig Overton, Jamie Overton, Matthew Parkinson, Ollie Pope, Ollie Robinson, Joe Root, Dom Sibley, Ben Stokes, Olly Stone, Amar Virdi, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood
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Rating: 4.5/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
How to join and use Abu Dhabi’s public libraries
• There are six libraries in Abu Dhabi emirate run by the Department of Culture and Tourism, including one in Al Ain and Al Dhafra.
• Libraries are free to visit and visitors can consult books, use online resources and study there. Most are open from 8am to 8pm on weekdays, closed on Fridays and have variable hours on Saturdays, except for Qasr Al Watan which is open from 10am to 8pm every day.
• In order to borrow books, visitors must join the service by providing a passport photograph, Emirates ID and a refundable deposit of Dh400. Members can borrow five books for three weeks, all of which are renewable up to two times online.
• If users do not wish to pay the fee, they can still use the library’s electronic resources for free by simply registering on the website. Once registered, a username and password is provided, allowing remote access.
• For more information visit the library network's website.
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
How to invest in gold
Investors can tap into the gold price by purchasing physical jewellery, coins and even gold bars, but these need to be stored safely and possibly insured.
A cheaper and more straightforward way to benefit from gold price growth is to buy an exchange-traded fund (ETF).
Most advisers suggest sticking to “physical” ETFs. These hold actual gold bullion, bars and coins in a vault on investors’ behalf. Others do not hold gold but use derivatives to track the price instead, adding an extra layer of risk. The two biggest physical gold ETFs are SPDR Gold Trust and iShares Gold Trust.
Another way to invest in gold’s success is to buy gold mining stocks, but Mr Gravier says this brings added risks and can be more volatile. “They have a serious downside potential should the price consolidate.”
Mr Kyprianou says gold and gold miners are two different asset classes. “One is a commodity and the other is a company stock, which means they behave differently.”
Mining companies are a business, susceptible to other market forces, such as worker availability, health and safety, strikes, debt levels, and so on. “These have nothing to do with gold at all. It means that some companies will survive, others won’t.”
By contrast, when gold is mined, it just sits in a vault. “It doesn’t even rust, which means it retains its value,” Mr Kyprianou says.
You may already have exposure to gold miners in your portfolio, say, through an international ETF or actively managed mutual fund.
You could spread this risk with an actively managed fund that invests in a spread of gold miners, with the best known being BlackRock Gold & General. It is up an incredible 55 per cent over the past year, and 240 per cent over five years. As always, past performance is no guide to the future.
Summer special
