Stocks in the Asia Pacific Benefited from Wall Street

Stocks in the Asia Pacific mostly strengthened their positions on Tuesday, following gains on Wall Street on Monday. Let’s have a look at the stocks.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 gained 1,88% to 22,750.24. At the same time, the Topix index added 2.54% to end its trading day at 1,585.96. As a reminder, the Japanese market was closed on Monday for a holiday.

Moreover, South Korea’s Kospi index added 1.35% to 2,413.67.

Australia’s benchmark ASX 200 rose 0.47% to 6,138.70 where the heavily weighted financials subindex added 1.14%.

Interestingly, mainland Chinese markets gave gains in the afternoon. For example, the Shanghai Composite fell 1.15% to 3,340.29. In the meantime, the Shenzhen Component dropped 1.4% to end its trading day at 13,466.27. Moreover, the Shenzhen Composite fell 1.49% to 2,243.45.

Moreover, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index added 1.92% in late-afternoon trade. However, the new technology index dropped by 1.01%.

Stocks and U.S.-China tensions

As mentioned above, stocks in Asia benefited from Wall Street. On Monday, the 30-stock Dow Jones Industrial Average added about 350 points in regular trading. It was the seventh positive session in a row. Importantly, it was the longest winning streak since September 2019.

Moreover, the S&P 500 gained 0.2%. Also, the Nasdaq fell 0.4% as investors rotated out of some of the high-fliers.

Tensions between the largest economies continue to affect the stocks, and it is not surprising as relations between the countries are quite complicated.

It is worth noting that, China imposed sanctions on 11 U.S. citizens, including several senators. Last week, Washington announced that it will impose sanctions on 11 individuals including Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam.

Tensions between the U.S. and China started a long time ago, but coronavirus pandemic once more highlighted the severity of the problems. Both sides should try to deescalate the situation. However, it won’t be easy to reach this goal.