Asia-Pacific Markets Rise As Tech Rally Pushes Wall Street Higher
Asia-Pacific markets opened higher on Tuesday after all three major benchmarks on Wall Street rose on a tech rally.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index opened the day up 1.04%, while the broader Topix index gained 1.14%.
In South Korea, the Kospi index rose 0.39% at the open, while the small-cap Kosdaq index fell 0.32%.
Meanwhile, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.15% in early trade.
Futures on Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index were at 21,585, indicating a stronger open compared with the HSI’s last close of 21,417.40.
India is expected to release March inflation figures later in the day. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the country’s consumer price index would rise 3.60%, compared with 3.61% in the previous month.
A separate poll showed India’s wholesale price index was forecast to rise 2.5% in March, from 2.38% in February.
U.S. futures fell as investors awaited first-quarter earnings and weighed U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff plans.
A notice from the U.S. Commerce Department said it would investigate the impact of “imports of semiconductors and semiconductor manufacturing equipment” and “pharmaceuticals and pharmaceutical materials, including finished drug products,” on U.S. national security.
Overnight at home, stocks rose in a choppy session, thanks to a rally in technology stocks boosted by Trump’s surprise tariff exemption.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 312.08 points, or 0.78%, to close at 40,524.79. The Nasdaq Composite rose 0.64% to close at 16,831.48, while the S&P 500 gained 0.79% to close at 5,405.97. Source: CNBC
