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Treasury Secretary Bessent to lead trade negotiations with

Japan

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Japan's Nikkei surges 5.6%, JGB yields rise from 3-month

lows

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Hong Kong equities gain despite Trump's hard line on

Beijing

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Crude oil rebounds from nearly four-year lows

By Kevin Buckland

TOKYO, April 8 (Reuters) - Asian stocks bounced off

1-1/2-year lows and U.S. stock futures pointed higher on

Tuesday, as markets caught their breath after recent heavy

selling on hopes that Washington might be willing to negotiate

some of its aggressive tariffs.

U.S. Treasury yields continued their ascent from six-month

lows, gold hovered close to a 2-1/2-week low and crude oil

recovered from a nearly four-year low, as traders began shifting

back to riskier assets from traditional safe havens.

A 5.6% rebound in Japan's Nikkei far outpaced other

regional markets, with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and

Trade Representative Jamieson Greer tasked with leading trade

negotiations with Tokyo.

U.S. business leaders have also begun speaking out about the

damage to the economy and financial markets that could be

wrought by President Donald Trump's global trade war, with

JPMorgan Chase ( JPM ) CEO Jamie Dimon warning on Monday of

inflation and a U.S. slowdown.

However, Trump dug in his heels over China, vowing

additional 50% levies if Beijing does not withdraw retaliatory

tariffs on the United States. Beijing said on Tuesday it will

never accept the "blackmail nature" of U.S. tariff threats.

Even so, Hong Kong's Hang Seng climbed 1.7% in early

trading. Mainland Chinese blue chips added 0.6%.

The Chinese yuan weakened to 7.36 per dollar in the

offshore market, the weakest in two months.

"Importantly, a little ray of sunshine is starting to emerge

that gives hope that the U.S. is genuinely open to trade

negotiations, ... the most significant being Japan with Treasury

Secretary Bessent," said Tapas Strickland, head of market

economics at National Australia Bank.

Strickland, however, noted volatility remains extremely

elevated, with the "rare event" of the VIX index spiking

as high as 60 overnight.

South Korea's KOSPI added 1.3% and Australia's

equity benchmark gained 1%.

Taiwan's equity benchmark though sank 3%, following

its worst day ever on Monday, when it tumbled 10%. The major

semiconductor producer faces a 32% duty from Washington.

Pan-European STOXX 50 futures rallied 2.2%.

U.S. S&P 500 futures rose 0.9%, after the cash index

ended a wild session with a 0.2% loss on Monday.

Wall Street swung between heavy losses and gains throughout

the session as investors were whiplashed by tariff headlines. A

media report claiming Trump was considering a 90-day pause in

duties for all countries except China briefly turned U.S. stocks

positive early in the session, but it was quashed by the White

House as "fake news."

"The signs are there that if the market hears what it wants

to hear then risky assets could explode higher," said Chris

Weston, head of research at Pepperstone.

"However, the net effect of the news on the day was hardly

positive, and the headlines that the market really wanted to

believe to be true proved to be false," he said.

"I'd argue what played out was more in fitting with a bear

market rally and one that traders should look to fade, rather

than believing we've reached a key inflection point for a

sustained trend higher."

The 10-year Treasury yield rose as much as 6

basis points (bps) to 4.216% on Tuesday, after jumping some 17

bps on Monday as it bounced from six-month lows.

That helped wrench Japanese government bond yields off their

own multi-month lows, with the 10-year yield up

12.5 bps to 1.235%.

The U.S. dollar edged lower against a basket of six major

peers, but that followed a two-day 1.2% advance from a

six-month trough.

The dollar eased 0.06% to 147.70 yen.

The euro jumped 0.4% to $1.0944, and sterling

climbed 0.3% to $1.2762.

The European Commission said on Monday it had offered a

"zero-for-zero" tariff deal to avert a trade war with the United

States as EU ministers agreed to prioritise negotiations, while

also striking back with 25% tariffs on some U.S. imports.

The risk-sensitive Australian dollar added 0.2% to

$0.6001.

Gold was steady at around $2,985 per ounce, but well

back from last Thursday's record peak at $3,167.57, reached in

the immediate aftermath of Trump's "Liberation Day" tariff

announcement.

Crude oil strongly rebounded after it fell to nearly

four-year lows on Monday.

Brent futures were up 1.26% at $65.02 per barrel,

while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose

1.52% to $61.61.