Asian Shares Mostly Higher As China Benchmarks Falter

Asian markets were mostly higher Tuesday after another day of gains on Wall Street, although Chinese shares faltered.

Taiwan’s Taiex was up 0.3%. I Photo: Wang Yu Ching / Office of the President, 總統府 Flickr

US futures and oil prices edged higher, Elaine Kurtenbach and Stan Choe reported for the Associated Press (AP).

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225, reopening after a national holiday, jumped 1.5% to 38,784.91 and the Kospi in South Korea surged 1.9% to 2,728.05. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shed 0.9% to 18,420.38 and the Shanghai Composite index edged 0.1% lower, to 3,136.62.

Data on travel, retail spending, and home sales during the weeklong Golden Week holidays showed persisting weakness in the economy.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 advanced 0.7% to 7,739.00 ahead of a central bank decision on interest rates. Taiwan’s Taiex was up 0.3%, while India’s Sensex was nearly flat as the country began the third phase of its weeks-long national elections process.

On Monday, the S&P 500 rose 1% to 5,180.74. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.5% to 38,852.27, and the Nasdaq composite jumped 1.2% to 16,349.25.