*

US stocks rise sharply after Trump hints at targeted

tariffs

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Relief rally peters out as scepticism, uncertainty grip

markets

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Dollar rises to three-week high after strong economic data

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Oil steady after Trump seeks to punish Venezuelan oil

buyers

(Updates to Asian afternoon)

By Ankur Banerjee

SINGAPORE, March 25 (Reuters) - Asian stocks stumbled on

Tuesday, dragged by a slide in Chinese tech shares after a

strong rally, while investors weighed the prospect of

narrower-than-feared U.S. tariffs and the dollar hovered near

three-week highs after upbeat economic data.

Investors have been focused on the impending reciprocal

tariffs promised by U.S. President Donald Trump and its impact

on the global economy as trade war fears grip markets.

Trump said on Monday automobile tariffs are coming soon even

as he indicated that not all of his threatened levies would be

imposed on April 2 and some countries may get breaks, suggesting

some room for negotiations.

That led to an exuberant risk-on reaction overnight. The

S&P 500 closed at its highest in over two weeks, while a

rally in tech stocks led Nasdaq up over 2% on Monday.

Asian stock bourses initially joined in on Tuesday morning

but by mid-afternoon the relief rally looked set to fizzle out.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan

was 0.35% lower ahead of European open.

European futures were down 0.24%, while S&P 500

and Nasdaq futures inched lower.

Charu Chanana, chief investment strategist at Saxo, said

the high degree of uncertainty would make business planning

extremely difficult.

"While markets can react to every tariff headline,

businesses cannot. Businesses need clarity - and the lack of it

could weigh on earnings soon," Chanana said.

Kyle Rodda, senior financial markets analyst at

Capital.com, said there was still a need to see the full detail

of what the tariffs would entail, and whether they represented

the full extent of the Trump administration's "bid to shake up

the global trading system."

"I don't think we are out of the woods completely yet."

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 1.8%, as tech

stocks led a broad selloff, with Xiaomi's ( XIACF ) $5.5 billion

upsized share sale triggering concerns about stretched

valuations across the market.

"Xiaomi's ( XIACF ) placement is only an 'excuse' for the market

decline in general, after this round of a 6,000-point rally,"

said Steven Leung, director of institutional sales at UOB Kay

Hian in Hong Kong, referring to strong rally in Hang Seng this

year.

The Hang Seng is up 17% this year, still the

best-performing major stock market in the world on AI bets after

startup DeepSeek's sparkling debut.

DATA LIFTS DOLLAR

The dollar hit a three-week high against the yen

at 150.95, after jumping 0.9% in the previous session, while

hovering at its strongest since March 6 at $1.0781 per euro

after stronger-than-expected U.S. economic data.

Data showed S&P Global's flash U.S. Composite PMI Output

Index, which tracks the manufacturing and services sectors,

increased to 53.5 this month from 51.6 in February. A reading

above 50 indicates expansion in the private sector.

The PMI would suggest the economy was regaining speed after

hitting a soft patch halfway through the first quarter. But

so-called hard data, including retail sales and the employment

report, have hinted at cracks in the foundation of the economy.

The strong dollar also cast a shadow across emerging

markets. Indonesian rupiah sank to its lowest level since

June 1998 during the Asian financial crisis on mounting concerns

over the country's fiscal health.

Investor attention will now be on the size of the reciprocal

tariffs to be announced next week as well as which countries

will be targeted by the Trump administration.

Oil prices were little changed on Tuesday after rising 1% in

the previous session as investors weighed the impact of Trump's

announcement of tariffs on countries buying oil and gas from

Venezuela.

Brent crude futures were up 2 cents at $73.02. U.S.

West Texas Intermediate crude futures was flat at $69.11.

Gold was steady at $3,015.87 per ounce after a

Federal Reserve official signalled a cautious stance on interest

rate cuts this year.