Nikkei 225 climbed 1.5% to 41,386.80, S&P/ASX 200 added 0.7% to 7,819.30, Kospi rose around 0.1% to 2,859.63, Hang Seng index dropped 0.4% to 17,450.73, while the Shanghai Composite was little changed, inching down to 2,921.88
Asian shares were mostly higher Tuesday after Wall Street benchmarks hit more records.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 climbed 1.5% in morning trading to 41,386.80. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 added 0.7% to 7,819.30. South Korea’s Kospi rose around 0.1% to 2,859.63. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index dropped 0.4% to 17,450.73, while the Shanghai Composite was little changed, inching down to 2,921.88.
Risk-taking will still likely be more measured ahead of the Fed Chair’s testimony and the key U.S. inflation release this week, according to Yeap Jun Rong, market analyst at IG.
On Wall Street, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq composite each hit all-time highs after closing with gains of 0.1% and 0.3%, respectively. The DJIA gave up an early gain and closed 0.1% lower.
Wall Street indexes have been gaining ground steadily over the past several months, and that has helped push the benchmark S&P 500 index to 35 records so far in 2024.
The current market is positive and steady to a nearly unprecedented degree, said Mark Hackett, chief of investment research at Nationwide. It is extremely rare to see these types of consistent gains with almost no volatility.
Gains in tech stocks, including several chipmakers, tempered declines in communication services, energy and other sectors of the S&P 500. Nvidia gained 1.9%, Broadcom gained 2.5% and Advanced Micro Devices closed with a 3.9% gain.
Specialty glassware maker Corning soared 12% for the biggest gain in the market Monday after raising its sales forecast.
Troubled airplane maker Boeing added 0.5% after agreeing to plead guilty to a criminal fraud charge stemming from two crashes of 737 Max jetliners that killed 346 people. The government determined the company breached an agreement that had protected it from prosecution for over three years.
Entertainment giant Paramount Global slipped 5.3% for the biggest decline among S&P 500 stocks after it agreed to merge with Skydance.
