Asia report: Shares rise as investors shrug off Trump tariff plan on chips

(Sharecast News) - Asian share markets were largely higher as investors shrugged off US President Donald Trump's planned 100% tariff on computer chip imports.

China's Shanghai Composite rose 0.16% to 3639, Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up 0.57% to 25,058, Japan's Nikkei increased 0.65% to 41,059.

Australia's ASX 200 declined 0.14% to 8831 and India's BSE slipped by 0.66% to 80015 in response to Trump's decision to double tariffs on the country's exports to 50% as punishment for buying Russian oil.

Trump overnight said semiconductor imports would be slapped with hefty duties, although there will be carveouts for firms investing in their US chip-making operations.

"We'll be putting a tariff of approximately 100% on chips and semiconductors. But if you're building in the United States of America, there's no charge," he said.

In Taiwan, officials said the country's leading chip manufacturer would not have to pay the tariff as it had set up plants in the US, sending shares in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing. shares to a record.

"TSMC is exempted from the chip tariffs because it has set up plants in the US," Liu Chin-ching, minister in charge of the National Development Council, said in Taipei on Thursday.

In economic news, China's exports rose 7.2% year-on-year in July, according to customs data faster than expected, and also quicker than the 5.8% growth recorded in June. Imports grew 4.1%.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com