Asia mid-session: Tariff uncertainty weighs on Asia equities; Gold, Oil Slip as US dollar rebounds

[Redator]

Most major Asia Pacific equity indices started the week on a weaker note, as investors turned cautious ahead of the expiration of the White House’s 90-day pause on higher global reciprocal tariffs (excluding China), scheduled for Wednesday, 9 July.

Asia Pacific equities (except Singapore) weaken as tariff uncertainty looms

Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 0.6% to 39,576, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index edged 0.3% lower to 23,845, though it remained above its 50-day moving average near 23,330. US equity futures were also under pressure, with both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 E-mini contracts declining 0.5% during Asia trading hours. Bucking the regional trend, Singapore’s Straits Times Index rose 0.3% to notch a fresh all-time intraday high of 4,026.

Conflicting tariff signals from the White House

Confusion surrounding the tariff timeline added to market jitters. Commerce Secretary Lutnick indicated that the higher tariffs would be implemented from 1 August, suggesting room for a deadline extension. However, President Trump stated over the weekend that formal letters announcing tariff hikes would be sent out on Monday and Tuesday, ahead of the 9 July deadline.

US dollar gains; commodity currencies underperform

The US Dollar Index rebounded 0.2% to 97.15 but remained capped by its 20-day moving average near 97.85. In today’s Asian session, the Japanese yen (-0.4%), Australian dollar (-0.6%), and New Zealand dollar (-0.7%) were the weakest performers against the greenback.

Read more in our previous Chart of the day – AUD/USD at risk of minor setback before new bullish leg

Gold and Oil retreat

Gold (XAU/USD) slipped 0.8% intraday to US$3,310, falling below its 50-day moving average at US$3,320. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil extended last week’s losses, down 0.4% to US$66.85 per barrel, breaching its 200-day moving average at US$69.15. The decline was driven by oversupply concerns after OPEC+ agreed to increase August production by 548,000 barrels per day, well above market expectations of 411,000 barrels.

Economic data releases

Fig 1: Key data for today’s Asia mid-session (Source: MarketPulse)

Chart of the day – GBP/USD at risk of breaking below 20-day moving average

Fig 2: GBP/USD minor trend as of 7 July 2025 (Source: TradingView)

The GBP/USD has failed to make any significant recoveries since last Wednesday, 7 July, dramatic intraday decline of -150 pips to a 6-day low of 1.3563 on the onset of a possible replacement of UK Chancellor Reeves.

Thereafter, the sterling pound has managed to bounce after a retest at 1.3570 (also the 20-day moving average) against the US dollar, but the hourly RSI momentum indicator has continued to flash out bearish momentum conditions since 4 July (see Fig 2).

These observations suggest a potential minor corrective decline sequence within its medium-term uptrend phase. Watch the 1.3670/3690 key short-term pivotal resistance, and a break below 1.3570 exposes the next intermediate support at 1.3470 (also the 50-day moving average)

On the flip side, a clearance above 1.3690 invalidates the bearish scenario to kickstart another bullish impulsive up move sequence for the next intermediate resistances to come in at 1.3800/3830 and 1.3870.

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