The yen pulled back a day after rallying past the 150-per-dollar mark following a warning on rising bond yields by Japan's finance minister saw a rethink over bets on how many interest rate hikes the central bank will announce this year.

The losses come despite a second-straight record close on Wall Street and follow a recent rally as traders have rolled with the president's latest tariff salvos, betting that they are being used as negotiating tactics.

Regional investors struggled to pick up the baton after a record close on Wall Street, with the rally in Hong Kong-listed tech stocks suffering a setback following disappointing earnings from Chinese internet giant Baidu.

The Hang Seng Index's gains extended an impressive start to the year, with the emergence of a new chatbot from Chinese startup DeepSeek stoking optimism in the country's AI drive.

Trading floors have been hit by uncertainty since Trump returned to the Oval Office last month announcing a series of tariffs against key trading partners.

The president has unveiled a range of hardball measures to bring an end to what he says is years of countries taking advantage of the United States, fuelling trade war fears and leading to warnings of another inflation spike.

The US president said he expected to meet his Russian counterpart in Saudi Arabia "in the not too distant future" to find a route to ending the three-year conflict, which has fanned geopolitical fears and energy costs.

The remarks, reflecting similar sentiments from another top monetary policymaker, came a day before the release of closely watched inflation data and reinforced expectations that borrowing costs would likely remain elevated for some time.

The US president has lived up to his campaign pledges to resume his hardball trade diplomacy to extract concessions on a range of issues, including commerce, immigration and drug trafficking.

Marc Short said that despite the president's claims, consumers will be the ones paying for the tariffs

Another week got off to an uncertain start following losses on Wall Street that came in reaction to data showing US consumers increasingly worried about inflation and news that far fewer jobs than expected were created last month.

The week was on course for a tepid end, having begun with another bout of volatility after Trump imposed tariffs on leading partners China, Canada and Mexico.

Global equities have been hit by volatility this week after US President Donald Trump announced hefty tariffs on China, Canada and Mexico.

Shanghai, which reopened after a week-long break, and Hong Kong were among the main losers as e-commerce firms took a hit from news that the US Postal Service was suspending inbound parcels from China and Hong Kong.

Markets from Japan to New York were sent tumbling Monday after news at the weekend that Trump had signed off 25% duties against Mexico and Canada, fanning concerns for the stuttering global economy.

Tokyo, Seoul and Jakarta each shed more than two percent while Sydney, Bangkok and Wellington were each off more than one percent. Singapore and India also fell, while Hong Kong gave up early deep losses to end only marginally down. Shanghai remained closed for a holiday.

London's benchmark FTSE 100 hit fresh highs Friday, helped by an 11-percent jump in the share price of Smiths Group after the British engineering company said it planned to simplify the business and return substantial sums to shareholders.

In a much-anticipated speech via video link at the Davos World Forum in Switzerland, Trump pushed for lower interest rates and said he would cut taxes for companies investing in the United States while imposing tariffs on those who do not.

Shanghai was among the main winners, eating into year-to-date losses after China unveiled a fresh batch of measures aimed at boosting the country's stock markets as part of Beijing's moves to provide support to the stuttering economy.

Software investment giant SoftBank soared more than 10 percent -- leading Tokyo-listed chipmakers higher -- after the American president said it was included in a new $500-billion venture to build infrastructure for artificial intelligence in the United States.

The new US president's announcement that the country's closest neighbours could be hit with 25% levies as soon as Feb. 1 also jolted currency markets, with the Mexican peso and Canadian dollar tumbling.

A sense of caution has permeated trading floors ahead of the tycoon's inauguration later in the day after he warned he would impose hefty tariffs on imports, fanning fears of another debilitating trade war between the economic superpowers.

A report saying the incoming US leader's economics team was considering slowly hiking tariffs on imports provided support to traders and put a cap on the dollar's latest surge, while news of fresh curbs on AI chips to China appeared to have little immediate impact.

The equity sell-off tracked hefty losses on Wall Street, where all three main indexes finished more than one percent lower as the new trading year continued to falter.

Markets have started the year cautiously, with the optimism that characterised most of the past three months dented by concerns about Donald Trump's coming presidency and the US central bank's hawkish pivot on monetary policy.

A report saying the president-elect was considering declaring a national economic emergency to provide legal cover to impose tariffs on all imported goods added to the sense of uncertainty on trading floors.

With inflation worries already elevated owing to Donald Trump's pledges to slash taxes, regulations and immigration when he returns to the White House, the latest readings added to uncertainty on trading floors.

Eyes were also on the release of closely watched US jobs data at the end of the week after the Federal Reserve scaled back its interest rate cut expectations and took a more hawkish turn.

Concerns about China's stuttering economy, the outlook for US interest rates and the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East were also causing a sense of uncertainty.

Hong Kong, Sydney and Taipei climbed, while Seoul surged nearly two percent higher despite deepening political uncertainty in Asia's fourth-largest economy.