European shares follow Asia higher

On Tuesday European shares followed their Asian peers upwards after U.S. President Donald Trump imposed 10 percent tariffs on an additional $200 billion worth of Chinese imports and warned of duties on more products if China took retaliatory action.

After opening flat, the pan-European STOXX 600 was up 0.1 percent at 0837 GMT, weighed down by a 0.1 percent dip in the FTSE 100. Trading centers in the euro zone such as Germany’s DAX posted strong rises. Home to large exporters and carmakers which are seen likely to suffer badly from an all out global trade war, Frankfurt was up 0.5 percent. Other bourses in Europe such as Paris were also in positive territory, with the CAC 40 .FCHO up 0.6 percent.

Thomas Costerg, senior U.S. economist at Pictet, said ahead of the U.S. trade announcement investors might well be prepared for it and take the view that the Trump administration had shown some restraint as it could have imposed even higher tariffs. Mergers and acquisitions prompted steep moves across European bourses. The top gainer was Norway’s Schibsted ASA, up 11.1 percent after it said it would spin off its international online classifieds.

Japan’s Nikkei rallied on Tuesday to its highest close since Feb. 1, led by insurers thanks to rising U.S. Treasury yields, though electronic suppliers underperformed as traders weighted the impact of new U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods. Hopes that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will win a Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) leadership election on Thursday helped push up the Nikkei share average. The index opened lower but ended 1.4 percent higher - its biggest one-day gain in five weeks at 23,420.54. The broader Topix closed at 1,759.88 after climbing 1.8 percent, its biggest daily percentage gain in six months. Japanese markets were closed for a holiday on Monday.