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Asian equities flip from early gains to losses

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Trump's back and forth on tariffs weighs on sentiment

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Uncertainty lifts gold to within $10 of record high

By Kevin Buckland

TOKYO, March 13 (Reuters) - Stocks sank in Asia on

Thursday, reversing initial gains, as worries about the economic

impact of President Donald Trump's trade policies overtook early

optimism from a tepid reading of U.S. inflation.

Gold climbed to within $10 of its record peak and the

safe-haven yen rallied, while U.S. Treasury yields turned lower.

Crude oil prices also declined.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng slumped 1.4% as of 0545 GMT,

and mainland Chinese blue chips slid 0.7%.

Japan's Nikkei gave up gains of as much as 1.4% to

last trade flat, while Taiwanese equities dropped 1.1%

and South Korea's KOSPI lost 0.4%.

Australia's stocks benchmark closed down 0.5% and is

now 10% off its record peak struck on February 14, confirming a

technical correction.

Futures pointed to a lower start for Wall Street at the

reopen, with S&P 500 futures losing 0.5% and Nasdaq

futures off 0.8%.

Pan-European STOXX 50 futures slipped 0.5%.

Beaten-down U.S. tech shares led a rebound on Wall Street on

Wednesday after data showed U.S. consumer prices rose at the

slowest pace since October last month.

The inflation figures were closely watched following a

recent run of softer economic data, but ultimately did not

capture the impact from Trump's tariff campaign.

"This, though, still strikes me as a market that simply

cannot hold onto any gains at the moment, which should be a big

old red flag for any potential dip buyers out there," said

Michael Brown, senior research strategist at Pepperstone.

"Along with my bearish equity bias, I still favour a bullish

bond view, particularly as risks increasingly tilt to the

downside for the U.S. economy."

Trump's increased tariffs on all U.S. steel and aluminium

imports took effect on Wednesday, stepping up a campaign to

reorder global trade in favour of the U.S. and drawing swift

retaliation from Canada and Europe.

"Uncertainty remains in the air as the outlook for consumer

price inflation remains blurred by trade policy developments,"

TD Securities analysts wrote in a client note.

"The impact from the recent implementation of tariffs on

Chinese, Canadian and Mexican goods and the expectation of

further announcements suggest the worst is yet to come."

Gold rose 0.5% to as high as $2,947.06, closing in on

the record high from February 24 at $2,956.15.

U.S. Treasury yields declined, with the two-year yield

easing 2 basis points to 3.974% after rising as high

as 4.005% on Wednesday.

The yen strengthened about 0.4% to 147.70 per dollar

.

The euro edged 0.1% lower to $1.0879.

Crude oil eased back following Wednesday's rally. Brent

futures lost 0.3% to $70.77 a barrel, while U.S. West

Texas Intermediate crude futures declined 0.4% to $67.44

a barrel.