Oil prices moved higher and Asian equity markets were mostly stronger, led by a sharp rally in Japan after Wall Street closed at fresh record levels.
Oil prices moved higher, with Brent crude trading at $64.16 a barrel early Tuesday, up from $63.55 late on Monday. Ongoing turmoil in Iran and Venezuela remained in focus for energy markets.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 surged 3.1% to an intraday record of 53,814.79 as trading resumed following a public holiday. Gains were driven largely by technology-related stocks. Shares in Advantest jumped 8.5%, while Tokyo Electron rose 8.3% and SoftBank advanced 4.3%.
Investors are also monitoring domestic political developments, with expectations that Sanae Takaichi may call a snap election in an effort to strengthen her mandate for increased government spending.
Elsewhere in the region, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 1% to 26,877.01. Shares of China-based chip designer GigaDevice Semiconductor surged 54% in early trading following the company’s debut in Hong Kong. Mainland China’s Shanghai Composite edged marginally lower, slipping less than 0.1% to 4,163.84.
South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.6% to 4,651.67, also reaching a fresh intraday high. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 climbed 0.8% to 8,830.60. Taiwan’s Taiex added 0.5%, while India’s BSE Sensex fell 0.3%.
In the United States, Wall Street recovered from early losses on Monday that followed news of a criminal investigation into Jerome Powell, Chair of the Federal Reserve. By the close, the S&P 500 had risen nearly 0.2%, while the Nasdaq Composite gained almost 0.3%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also ended the session about 0.2% higher.
Gold was quoted at $4,578.60 an ounce early on Tuesday, down from $4,621.38 on Monday, easing back after briefly touching a record high above the $4,600 level.
