Asian stocks climbed Thursday following a relief rally in the United States after President Donald Trump stepped back from his threat to impose tariffs on several European countries over their opposition to a US takeover of Greenland. Safe-haven metals, including gold and silver, extended their losses.Asian markets were broadly higher, with Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 rising 1.9 percent to 53,760.85, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng and Shanghai’s Composite each gained 0.2 percent, closing at 26,630.21 and 4,123.69 respectively, reported AFP.The market swings came after Trump had warned that Germany, France, Britain, and Denmark could face levies for opposing his Greenland plan. The threat had raised fears of a trade war, with French President Emmanuel Macron hinting at the possible use of a previously unused economic deterrent.Traders breathed easier Wednesday when Trump told the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos that he would not take the Danish territory by force and later confirmed he had retracted the planned tariffs.“We have formed the framework of a future deal with respect to Greenland and, in fact, the entire Arctic Region,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, without giving further details. “Based upon this understanding, I will not be imposing the Tariffs that were scheduled to go into effect on February 1st.”The announcement fueled a US stock rally of more than one percent, which had fallen on Tuesday after the long weekend. Asian markets followed suit, with gains in Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Sydney, Seoul, Singapore, Taipei, and Manila.“After days of market fretting over Greenland turning from diplomatic curiosity into tariff ammunition, the president arrived in Davos and did what markets have quietly come to expect. He de-escalated. No force. No February tariffs,” said SPI Asset Management’s Stephen Innes. He added, “There is enough ambiguity to preserve leverage, but enough reassurance to release the pressure valve. In trader terms, the market went from pricing a live grenade to pricing an option that expires sometime later,” as quoted by AFP.Tech-heavy markets led the gains in Asia. Tokyo, Taipei, and Seoul saw strong advances as chip companies and tech giants benefited from renewed investor interest in artificial intelligence.Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang told WEF delegates that the AI sector will require massive investment. “We’re now a few hundred billion dollars into it… there are trillions of dollars of infrastructure that needs to be built out,” he said, adding that the current boom “has started the largest infrastructure buildout in human history.”South Korean chipmakers Samsung and SK hynix rose more than three percent, while Japanese tech investment giant SoftBank gained over seven percent. Tokyo-based chip firms Advantest and Tokyo Electron were up more than four percent, and precision tools maker Disco Corporation jumped 17 percent after stronger-than-expected earnings. TSMC rose more than one percent in Taipei.
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