On the Tokyo Stock Exchange, the flagship Nikkei index closed down 0.92% to 39,565.80 points and the broader Topix index, however, increased by 0.26% to 2758.07 points.
Asian markets hesitated on Monday, digesting the customs retaliation briefly imposed by Donald Trump on Colombia, while semiconductor-related stocks fell in Tokyo amid concerns linked to the artificial intelligence model of a Chinese firm.
Promising DeepSeek, the chips unscrew
A young Chinese start-up, DeepSeek, unveiled an open architecture artificial intelligence model last week, ensuring that it was capable of competing with OpenAI, the American behemoth creator of ChatGPT.
However, markets and analysts were digesting information on Monday according to which DeepSeek’s model would be efficient while operating on chips with reduced capacity, at the risk of disrupting the domination of American groups in the sector – including the chip giant Nvidia.
In Tokyo, the shares of Japanese companies linked to semiconductors, also potentially threatened, fell, like Advantest, the supplier of Nvidia (-8.60%), Screen Holdings (-5.09%) and Disco Corp (-1.79%).
The powerful Japanese investment group SoftBank, which jumped last week with its participation in the massive AI project unveiled by Donald Trump in the United States, also plunged on Monday (-8.32%). Fujikura, which makes data center cables, also collapsed 8%.
“(American) dominance cannot be taken for granted. DeepSeek’s emergence in China indicates that competition is intensifying: while it may not pose a significant threat at the moment, it shows that future rivals will challenge established companies more quickly than expected. warned Charu Chanana, analyst at Saxo Markets cited by Bloomberg.
Stock markets suspended from Trump, who blows hot and cold
On the Tokyo Stock Exchange, the flagship Nikkei index closed down 0.92% to 39,565.80 points and the broader Topix index, however, increased by 0.26% to 2758.07 points.
The Tokyo market was driven by a solid performance of securities from large banks, such as Mizuho (+1.58%) or SMFG (+1.54%), after the Bank of Japan raised rates on Friday. which should boost their profits.
But overall, investors remained on guard in the face of Donald Trump’s economic and trade policy, with the newly inaugurated American president blowing hot and cold.
-He assured Friday that he would prefer not to impose customs duties on China, a brutal turnaround from his repeated promises to hit the Asian giant with heavy import taxes.
These accommodating statements continued to relieve the Chinese stock markets on Monday: around 06:30 GMT in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index climbed 0.71% to 20,209.51 points. The Shanghai composite index gained 0.23%, with only that of Shenzhen losing 0.90%.
Across Asia, nervousness remained in the face of Mr. Trump’s unpredictability: the latter decided on Sunday to impose drastic customs duties on Colombia, after Bogota’s refusal to welcome immigrants expelled by the States -United… before finally suspending the planned sanctions on Monday.
Another worrying factor: manufacturing activity fell sharply in January in China after three consecutive months of growth.
Shy rebound in the dollar, the Mexican peso plunges, respite for gold
“It’s only the beginning, but it appears that Trump 2.0 will use tariffs to achieve economic and political goals, as the Colombia example illustrates, and perhaps in a more aggressive way than in the first mandate,” comments Michael Wan of MUFG bank.
“An escalation of tariffs between the United States and China is likely delayed, not reversed,” he warns.
After falling sharply on Friday in the face of the Republican magnate’s more moderate posture on China, the dollar – a safe haven in the face of uncertainties – rebounded on Monday, before stabilizing (+0.03%) around 06:30 GMT against the Japanese currency, at 156.01 yen per dollar.
The Mexican peso suffered from Donald Trump’s reprisals targeting Colombia, while Mexico itself is threatened with customs sanctions: the currency lost 0.77% against the greenback.
The weakening of the dollar had pushed investors on Friday to turn to gold, another safe haven, bringing it closer to the historic record reached at the end of October: logically, the price of the yellow metal fell by 0.59% on Monday to 2,754 dollars per year. ounce.
The oil market remained weighed down by pressure from Donald Trump to push OPEC to increase its supply: a barrel of American WTI lost 0.66% to 74.17 dollars, that of Brent from the North Sea 0 .64% to $78.00.
