Asian markets gained slightly in muted early trading Tuesday, after stocks closed higher on Wall Street to kick off a busy earnings week.
Investors were also encouraged by trade developments, after the South China Morning Post reported U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin would travel to Beijing next week for renewed trade negotiations with China. Later Monday, the Wall Street Journal reported President Donald Trump had agreed to make “timely” licensing decisions for U.S. tech companies seeking to renew sales with Huawei Technologies Co.
Japan’s Nikkei NIK, +0.94% rose 0.9% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index HSI, +0.13% edged up 0.2%. The Shanghai Composite SHCOMP, +0.07% was up 0.1% while the smaller-cap Shenzhen Composite 399106, +0.34% advanced 0.4%. Shanghai’s new STAR market declined following a big pop in its debut Monday. South Korea’s Kospi 180721, +0.50% rose 0.5%, while benchmark indexes in Taiwan Y9999, +0.06% , Singapore STI, +0.17% and Indonesia JAKIDX, -0.03% barely moved. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 XJO, +0.44% advanced 0.4%.
Among individual stocks, SoftBank 9984, +3.84% surged in Tokyo trading, along with oil-and-gas engineering company Chiyoda 6366, +5.01% and chip maker Tokyo Electron 8035, +2.40% . In Hong Kong, tech-component makers Sunny Optical 2382, +2.85% and AAC 2018, +2.55% rose, while property company Country Garden 2007, -2.33% fell. Chip maker SK Hynix 000660, +2.68% jumped in South Korea after an endorsement by Goldman Sachs over the weekend, while, Hyundai Motor 005380, -1.88% sank after missing quarterly earnings expectations despite a big jump in profit. In Australia, Oil Search OSH, +2.80% gained while Fortescue Metals FMG, -1.01% fell.
Add Comment