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As traders consider Trump tariffs, stocks gain and the dollar falls

The U.S. Dollar remained a bit erratic as markets awaited clarification on President Donald Trump’s trade policy in advance of the next round of tariffs.

The White House gave traders some hope that they could get some flexibility after Trump announced on Monday that some levies wouldn't be collected by the deadline of April 2, and certain countries would receive breaks. He did not provide any further details.

Trump also opened a second front in his trade conflict by directing 25% secondary tariffs to any country buying oil or gas from Venezuela. This initially drove oil prices up, but was somewhat offset by the relief that the U.S. received from Black Sea maritime deals it made during the war in Ukraine.

The Nikkei 225 index in Japan rose 0.65% and the KOSPI in South Korea rose 1.08%. Australian stocks rose 0.71%.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 0.25%. Blue chips on the Mainland of China fell 0.32%.

U.S. S&P futures were down by 0.12%, after the cash index had a 0.16% overnight gain.

The price of STOXX50 futures in Europe fell by 0.06%.

Kyle Rodda is a senior financial market analyst at Capital.com. He said that there was a high level of anxiety among the markets ahead of the Trump administration's announcement on trade policy next week.

The U.S. President's comments about more focused and narrower trade restrictions have helped to ease the situation.

The U.S. Dollar Index, which measures currency against six major counterparts, grew by 0.1%. After slipping by 0.12% on the previous day, it was its first loss session in a little over a week.

Last week, it was at a five-month-low of 103.19 due to fears that Trump's Trade War could lead to a U.S. Recession.

Consumer confidence has plummeted to its lowest level in over four years, according to data released overnight.

The dollar rose by 0.39%, to 150.49 Japanese yen.

Kazuo Ueda, the Governor of Bank of Japan, said that the central banks has not yet achieved its inflation targets. He also pledged to keep increasing interest rates in case persistent increases in food prices lead to broad-based price inflation.

The yield on Japanese 10-year government bonds has risen to its highest level since 2008.

Shoki Omori is the chief desk strategist of Mizuho Securities.

Omori stated that "His speech left a room for hikes, as it was cautiously positive." "That being said, his tone was cautious, especially on the consumption side of the economy."

The euro fell 0.08%, to $1.0783. Sterling dropped 0.2%, to $1.2918.

Gold rose 0.2% to $3.026. This week, it has been a little below the record high of 3,057.21 that was reached on Thursday.

Brent crude futures rose 0.4%, to $73.31 per barrel. U.S. West Texas intermediate crude futures also increased 0.4%, to $69.29 per barrel. (Reporting and editing by Muralikumar Aantharaman, Bernadette B. Baum, Kevin Buckland)

(source: Reuters)