Asian stocks mixed after Wall St. rises
BEIJING (AP) — Asian stock markets were mixed Tuesday after Wall Street rose as a wave of investor concern about possible higher interest rates receded.
Market benchmarks in Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong declined. Seoul and Sydney advanced.
Overnight, Wall Street's benchmark S&P 500 index climbed 2.4%, recovering most of its losses from the past week.
That came after a selloff in U.S. Treasury bonds eased. That helped to ease investor concerns the cost of borrowing might rise, putting downward pressure on the U.S. economic recovery.
“Bond markets rowed back into calmer waters,” said Stephen Innes of Axi in a report. “Stocks should continue to move higher to the beat of the U.S. consumer’s capacity to spend their way out of this recession.”
Also Tuesday, Japan reported employment rose despite a state of emergency to cope with renewed coronavirus outbreaks and South Korea reported higher factory output.
The Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.3% to 3,539.91 and the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo sank 0.4% to 29,554.75. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong lost 0.2% to 29,405.45.
The Kospi in Seoul advanced 1.6% to 3,060.39 after the government reported factory production increased by a better-than-forecast 7.5% in January over a year earlier, up from December's 2.5%.
The S&P-ASX 200 in Sydney was up less than 0.1% at 6,792.50. New Zealand, Singapore and Jakarta also rose.
On Wall Street, the S&P 500 rose to 3,901.82 in its biggest single-day gain since June 5. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 2% to 31,535.51. The Nasdaq composite climbed 3% to 13,588.83.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury, or the difference between its market price and the payout if an investor holds it to maturity, fell to 1.43% after reaching its highest level in more than a year last week.
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