SINGAPORE/PARIS, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Global stock markets held near record highs on Friday and European indexes were set for their eighth weekly gain in a row, after U.S. President Donald Trump said reciprocal tariffs would not be immediately imposed, suggesting room for negotiations.
Trump's plans to impose tariffs on every country taxing U.S. imports have stoked fears of a wide-ranging trade war, pushing gold prices to a record high earlier this week. Gold was set for a seventh straight week of gains.
But a directive from Trump on Thursday stopped short of imposing fresh tariffs, instead kicking off what could be weeks or months of investigation into the levies imposed on U.S. goods by other trading partners and then devising a response.
"While global financial markets may be inclined to take some relief from the delay in the immediate imposition of reciprocal tariffs, it is not clear to us whether the delay necessarily reflects a lower likelihood that they will eventually be imposed," Barclays analysts said in a note.
Trump has kicked off a trade war, first by imposing tariffs on Mexico and Canada and then pausing them, but sticking with duties on Chinese goods.
"It seems that Trump's bark has once again proved worse than his bite when it comes to the matter of trade," said Michael Brown, senior research strategist at Pepperstone.
"That doesn't, however, stop this now rather tiresome merry-go-round of headlines, nor the accompanying yo-yo price action, as participants grapple with whatever the latest story is, and try to discount it."
European stocks were mixed, with the pan-European STOXX 600 index <.STOXX> up 0.1% on the day, having closed at a record high on Thursday. Futures for Nasdaq and S&P 500 were a touch higher.
and the Nasdaq climbing one-and-a-half percent.
European markets have outperformed in recent months due to hopes for a possible peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, as well as the prospect of interest rate cuts and U.S. tariffs being less severe than feared. Goldman Sachs raised its 12-month price forecast for Europe's STOXX 600, citing the possibility of a Ukraine ceasefire.
In Asia, the spotlight has been on a rally in Chinese tech stocks, with the Hang Seng Tech Index (.HSTECH), hitting its highest level in three years on Thursday spurred by home-grown start-up DeepSeek's breakthrough.
On Friday, Hong Kong's benchmark index (.HSI), rose over 2%, taking its weekly gains to 5%, its fifth straight week of gains and the strongest weekly performance in four months.
James Ooi, market strategist at Tiger Brokers, said the DeepSeek-driven rally appears to have further upside in the short term, but a sustained rally will depend on the Chinese tech sector's ability to monetise AI.
"While Chinese tech companies trade at lower valuations, their reliance on domestic revenue limits their potential to reach valuation levels comparable to global tech giants ... they (also) face heightened scrutiny over privacy and security concerns," Ooi said.
INFLATION WATCH
Data on Thursday showed U.S. producer prices rose solidly in January, bolstering financial market views that the Federal Reserve would not be cutting interest rates before the second half of the year.
But components of the data that are part of the personal consumption expenditures (PCE), the Fed's preferred inflation measure, were soft and added to hopes the PCE reading may be cooler than currently expected.
The data comes on the heels of Wednesday's consumer price index (CPI), which showed its largest acceleration in nearly 1-1/2 years.
The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes was steady at 4.5347% after tumbling 10 basis points on Thursday, clocking its biggest daily drop in a month.
The dollar index , which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, was down 0.2% on the day at 106.93 after dropping 0.8% on Thursday, its biggest one-day percentage drop since January 20.
The euro hovered near its highest in more than two weeks at $1.0477, supported by optimism around potential peace talks between Ukraine and Russia.
Oil prices rose, poised to end three weeks of losses, buoyed partly by rising fuel demand.
Brent futures were up 0.5% at $75.37 a barrel while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude gained 0.4% to $71.45.
Reporting by Ankur Banerjee and Chuck Mikolajczak, additional reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss in New York and Noel Randwich in San Francisco; editing by Deepa Babington, Stephen Coates, Sam Holmes and Kim Coghill
