Asian markets rose in early trading Tuesday, following record closing highs on Wall Street and more encouraging news on a trade deal.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average
hit its first record high in four months, joining the S&P 500
and Nasdaq Composite
, which both closed at record highs for the second day in a row. Stocks were boosted by better-than-expected third-quarter earnings and optimism over the likelihood of a “phase one” trade deal between the U.S. and China.
The Financial Times reported Monday that the U.S. was considering rolling back tariffs on $112 billion in Chinese goods as a concession to reach an initial deal, with China expected to show a similar good-faith effort. The Wall Street Journal later reported similar news, saying both sides would remove some tariffs if a deal was reached.
Japan’s Nikkei
surged 2% as traders returned from a Monday holiday. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index
rose 0.5%, while the Shanghai Composite
gained 0.7% and the Shenzhen Composite
advanced 0.4%. South Korea’s Kospi
edged up 0.3% while benchmark indexes in Taiwan
, Singapore
and Indonesia
all rose. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200
rose 0.3%.
Among individual stocks, SoftBank
and oil producer Inpex
jumped in Tokyo trading. Honda
and Sony
also gained. In Hong Kong, Apple component makers Sunny Optical
and AAC
advanced, and LG Electronics
rose in South Korea. Beach Energy
gained in Australia while Westpac
sank.