After falling around 3% on Wednesday, the AEX blue chip index opened nearly 7% higher on Thursday morning, following US president Donald Trump’s decision to delay import tariffs.

The market opening was briefly delayed by a surge in orders, pushing the AEX up by 6.9% in early trading to 851.59 points. However, the index fell back after an hour as the initial momentum faded. Stock markets in Frankfurt, Paris and London also posted strong gains.

Chip machinery manufacturer Besi, one of the hardest-hit stocks in recent days, surged 14% at the opening but later slipped back to an 11% gain. Adyen, ASM International and Aegon all recorded increases of more than 9%.

The AEX had dropped by roughly 12% since Trump announced a 20% tariff on European imports and has now recovered nearly half of that loss.

On Wednesday, Trump said the tariff would be reduced to 10% for countries willing to negotiate and that had not introduced retaliatory measures. He also announced a 90-day pause to allow time for talks.

The European Union on Wednesday published its formal response to the earlier-announced 25% tariff on steel products. Trump has also indicated that additional tariffs on pharmaceuticals are under consideration.

On Thursday, commission president Ursula von der Leyen said the EU would delay imposing its tariffs for 90 days as well.