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Bond yields fall, yen gains as safe havens garner demand

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Oil eases from 5-week high as traders weigh slowdown risks

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Aussie slips ahead of RBA monetary policy decision

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Spot gold hits record high at $3,139.78 per ounce

By Kevin Buckland

TOKYO, April 1 (Reuters) - Asian equities rose on

Tuesday following Wall Street's overnight gains, while gold hit

an all-time peak and Treasury yields fell as markets awaited

details of U.S. President Donald Trump's reciprocal tariffs.

The Japanese yen strengthened as traditional haven assets

drew demand. Meanwhile, the risk-sensitive Australian dollar was

under pressure after a soft reading of local retail sales, ahead

of a Reserve Bank of Australia policy decision later in the day.

Regional stocks found some respite on the first day of April

after being battered in March by worries that Trump's trade war

could trigger stagflation or even a U.S. recession.

Investors are nervously awaiting April 2, a day Trump has

dubbed "Liberation Day", when he has promised to unveil a

massive reciprocal tariff plan.

Japan's Nikkei rose 0.7%, South Korea's KOSPI

advanced 1.4% and Taiwan's equity benchmark

climbed 1.7%, following steep drops on Monday.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 1%, while mainland

Chinese blue chips edged 0.1% higher.

The U.S. S&P 500 gained 0.55% on Monday, snapping a

three-day losing run, but futures pointed 0.54% lower.

"It is possible that a significant portion of last night's

rebound in the key (Wall Street) indices was attributable to

month-end and quarter-end rebalancing flows, as well as short

covering ahead of Trump's Liberation Day, amid considerable

uncertainty about what comes next," said Tony Sycamore, an

analyst at IG.

"U.S. equity markets are priced for a slowdown in growth and

earnings. However, they are not priced for a recession, and if

the U.S. economy enters recession, U.S. stock markets could

easily fall by another 10%."

Bullion powered to a record high for a fourth straight

session, hitting $3,139.78 per ounce.

"On top of general risk aversion, investors are increasing

allocation to gold with the Trump administration's trade policy

threatening the dollar's special reserve status," said Kyle

Rodda, senior financial markets analyst at Capital.com.

"The fundamental backdrop remains strong for gold."

DOLLAR UNDER PRESSURE

Demand for the safety of Treasuries sent yields lower on

Tuesday, with those on benchmark 10-year notes

sinking some 4 basis points to 4.2072%.

That put pressure on the dollar, which slipped 0.19% to

149.70 yen. The euro added 0.08% to $1.0825.

However the dollar edged up against the currencies of some

of its top trading partners, adding 0.08% to C$1.4398

and rising by the same margin to 20.4751 Mexican pesos.

The Aussie slipped 0.18% to $0.6238.

The RBA is widely expected to keep interest rates steady,

but with conditions falling into place for a cut, traders will

be looking for hints that a reduction could be coming in May.

Bitcoin was steady at around $82,708.

Oil prices dipped slightly from a five-week high as traders

weighed the impact of a trade war on global growth. Brent

eased 0.1% to $74.67 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas

Intermediate crude fell by the same margin to $71.37.

Both crude contracts had jumped about 2% on Monday after

Trump threatened secondary tariffs on Russian crude and on Iran.

He also threatened Iran with bombing if Tehran did not come to

an agreement with Washington over its nuclear programme.