(Changes dateline, updates to Asia open)

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Trump's tariff timeline offer markets reprieve

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Gold prices set for seventh straight week of gains

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Chinese tech stocks rally rages on

By Ankur Banerjee and Chuck Mikolajczak

SINGAPORE/NEW YORK, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Asian stocks

tracked Wall Street higher on Friday, while the dollar eased as

investors contended with U.S. President Donald Trump's

reciprocal tariffs that were not immediately imposed as well as

U.S. data allaying investor worries on inflation.

Trump's plans to impose reciprocal tariffs on every country

taxing U.S. imports have stoked concerns of a global trade war,

pushing gold prices to a record high earlier this week. Gold was

set for a seventh straight week of gains.

The directive from Trump on Thursday stopped short of

imposing fresh tariffs, instead kicking off what could be weeks

or months of investigation into the levies imposed on U.S. goods

by other trading partners and then devising a response.

"While global financial markets may be inclined to take some

relief from the delay in the immediate imposition of reciprocal

tariffs, it is not clear to us whether the delay necessarily

reflects a lower likelihood that they will eventually be

imposed," Barclays analysts said in a note.

"Given the recent rollercoaster ride in global financial

markets on news of the proposed 25% tariffs on Canada and

Mexico, it is difficult to assert with certainty that the

reciprocal tariffs will indeed be implemented after April 1."

Trump last week kicked off a trade war, first by imposing

tariffs on Mexico and Canada and then pausing them, but sticking

with duties on Chinese goods.

In Asia, the spotlight has been on a rally in Chinese tech

stocks, with the Hang Seng Tech Index hitting its

highest level in three years on Thursday spurred by home-grown

start-up DeepSeek's breakthrough.

On Friday, Hong Kong's benchmark index rose 1.6%,

taking its weekly gains to about 5%, its fifth straight week of

gains and the strongest weekly performance in four months.

That left the MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares

outside Japan up 0.54%, hovering near the

two-month high it touched on Thursday. Japan's Nikkei

fell 0.55% but was on track to eke out gains for the week.

INFLATION WATCH

Data on Thursday showed the U.S. producer price index (PPI)

for final demand rose 0.4% last month after an upwardly revised

0.5% gain in December, topping the estimate of economists polled

by Reuters for a 0.3% rise.

But components of the PPI data that are part of the personal

consumption expenditures (PCE), which is the Fed's preferred

targeted inflation measure, were soft and added to hopes the PCE

reading may be cooler than currently expected.

The data comes on the heels of Wednesday's consumer price

index (CPI), which showed its largest acceleration in nearly

1-1/2 years.

The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes was

steady at 4.535% in Asian hours after tumbling 10 basis points

on Thursday, clocking its biggest daily drop in a month.

Aside from the PPI data, U.S. initial jobless claims fell

7,000 to a seasonally adjusted 213,000, slightly below the

215,000 level and indicating the job market remains on stable

footing.

Still, expectations for a rate cut from the Fed continue to

be pushed back this year, with traders fully pricing in a 25

basis point cut only in October. Traders expect 33 bps of easing

this year from the Fed.

Christopher Dillon, fixed income investment specialist at T.

Rowe Price, said while the Fed is expected to be on hold, the

European Central Bank is likely to aggressively cut its policy

rate in the months ahead.

"Many emerging market policy makers have to take volatile

currencies into account as they set monetary policy... Many

emerging market policy makers are moving at a different cadence

than the Fed," he said.

The Philippine central bank unexpectedly kept its key

interest rate steady on Thursday, with the governor saying the

move was its way of hedging against global uncertainties.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback

against a basket of currencies, was little changed at 107.07

after dropping 0.8% on Thursday, its biggest one-day percentage

drop since January 20.

The euro hovered near its highest in more than two

weeks at $1.0459 in early Asian trade, supported by optimism

around potential peace talks between Ukraine and Russia.