Japan’s benchmark Topix dropped 3.2 per cent and the exporter-oriented Nikkei 225 slid 3.9 per cent. In South Korea the Kospi fell 2.2 per cent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dipped 0.4 per cent. Gold hit a record $3,098 per troy ounce while US Treasury yields declined, in a sign that investors were piling into safe assets.

Stock-market investors hope President Trump’s April 2 tariff announcements will provide much wanted certainty. They shouldn’t count on it.

Global shares are mostly lower as investors mull the uncertainties brought by U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest tariffs