World stocks shrug off fears over trade war

Global equities rallied for a second straight day yesterday while safe-haven assets such as US bonds and the Japanese yen slipped to multiweek lows as investors bet the escalating US-China trade spat would inflict less damage than feared.

The deepening tariff row between the US and China threatens to disrupt supply chains and undermine the world economy.

But markets appear to have taken cheer from China’s move to levy only 10 per cent duty on $60 billion (Dh220.3 billion) of US imports.

MSCI’s index of global equities rose 0.2 per cent to a two-week high while emerging stocks too firmed for a second day, led by a one per cent jump in Shanghai markets. An index of non-Japan Asian stocks also rose one per cent. Government bonds from the United States and Germany, typically instruments that benefit from political or economic turmoil, saw yields race to multiweek highs. US 10-year yields stayed firmly above the key 3 per cent mark.

‘Relative calm’