Asian Markets Mixed After Wall Street Gains as Oil Prices Steady
HONG KONG – Asian markets were mixed Tuesday, while U.S. stock futures moved higher after Wall Street closed near a record.
Oil prices held relatively steady as uncertainty continued to surround developments in the Middle East.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 advanced 0.5% to 70,321.83, moving back above 70,000 this week for the first time since early July.
South Korea’s Kospi fell 1% to 6,936.60.
Technology shares in Japan and South Korea swung between gains and losses. Japanese chip-testing equipment maker Advantest rose 2%, while SoftBank Group, an investor in OpenAI, declined 2.5% after Chief Executive Masayoshi Son cautioned about potential risks linked to the technology.
Samsung Electronics dropped 1.6% in South Korea, and memory-chip producer SK Hynix slid 2.9%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index gained 0.8% to 24,228.47.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.6% to 8,735.20.
Taiwan’s Taiex edged 0.1% lower, while India’s Sensex added 0.2%.
Mainland Chinese markets were closed for a holiday.
On Monday, the S&P 500 climbed 0.7%, finishing close to its previous record. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.2%, while the Nasdaq composite rose 1.1% to a record closing high.
Major technology companies helped drive the advance. Nvidia rose 2.1%, matching Broadcom’s 2.1% gain.
Higher oil prices and bond yields have created additional pressure for the wider stock market and businesses. However, expectations for robust corporate earnings have continued to underpin the recent rally as investors await the latest earnings season.
Oil prices moved higher early Tuesday. Brent crude, the global benchmark, rose 0.4% to $100.71 a barrel, compared with about $72 a barrel in late February.
U.S. benchmark crude gained 0.3% to $89.73 a barrel.
Analysts said pressure on oil prices has eased as larger volumes pass through the Strait of Hormuz and flows through Saudi Arabia’s key East-West pipeline recover. Still, tensions between the United States and Iran remain elevated.
“While there are growing signs of a recovery in oil flows from the Persian Gulf, the market remains nervous about potential supply disruptions from the region. This is keeping prices well-supported for now,” ING commodities strategists Warren Patterson and Ewa Manthey wrote in a Tuesday commentary.
In the bond market, U.S. Treasury yields remained near highs not seen in decades. The 10-year Treasury yield rose to about 5.32% from 5.28% Friday, after briefly surpassing 5.35%—its highest level since 2002.
Investors are demanding greater returns to hold government debt as inflationary pressures increase, partly because of the energy shock linked to the Iran war. U.S. national debt has also exceeded a record $40 trillion.
The U.S. dollar rose to 157.96 Japanese yen from 157.91 yen. The euro edged down to $1.1222 from $1.1223.
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AP Business Writer Stan Choe contributed to this report.
