Asian Markets Trade Mostly Higher

Asian stock markets are trading mostly higher on Tuesday, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, extending the record global rally in equities with particular gains in Hong Kong, China and Japan. The markets overlooked concerns about the latest geopolitical developments involving the US and Venezuela as well as the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. Asian markets closed mostly higher on Monday.

The Australian stock market is trading notably lower on Tuesday after opening in the green, following a flat closed in the previous session, despite the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is falling below the 8,700 level, with weakness in financial and gold miner stocks partially offset by gains in technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 40.50 points or 0.46 percent to 8,688.10, after touching a high of 8,771.30 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 33.70 points or 0.37 percent to 9,001.00. Australian stocks closed nearly flat on Monday.

Among the major miners, BHP Group is gaining more than 1 percent, while Mineral Resources and Rio Tinto are adding almost 1 percent each. Fortescue is losing almost 2 percent.

Oil stocks are mixed. Beach energy and Origin Energy are edging down 0.2 to 0.4 percent each, while Woodside Energy and Santos are edging up 0.3 to 0.5 percent each.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is advancing more than 4 percent and Xero is adding almost 1 percent, while Appen and Zip are gaining more than 1 percent each. WiseTech Global is down almost 1 percent.

Gold miners are weak. Evolution Mining, Resolute Mining and Newmont are edging down 0.2 to 0.5 percent each, while Genesis Minerals is losing more than 1 percent. Northern Star resources is edging up 0.4 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank, ANZ Banking and Westpac are all losing more than 2 percent each.

In other news, shares in BlueScope Steel are skyrocketing almost 22 percent after confirming it had received a $30 per share takeover offer from a consortium led by SGH Ltd and US-based Steel Dynamics.

In economic news, the service sector in Australia continued to expand in December, albeit at a slower pace, the latest survey from S&P Global revealed on Tuesday with a services PMI score of 51.1. That’s down from 52.8 in November, although it remains above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.672 on Tuesday.

The Japanese stock market is trading notably higher on Tuesday, extending the gains in the previous session, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is moving up to near the 52,200 level, with gains across most sectors led by financial and automaker stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index closed the morning session at 52,191.58, up 358.78 points or 0.69 percent, after touching a high of 52,456.03 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply higher on Monday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is flat, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is adding almost 1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is up more than 1 percent and Toyota is gaining more than 2 percent.

In the tech space, Tokyo Electron is edging down 0.1 percent, while Screen Holdings and Advantest are edging up 0.2 percent each.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are gaining almost 3 percent each, while Mizuho Financial is advancing more than 4 percent.

The major exporters are mostly higher. Panasonic and Mitsubishi Electric are gaining 1.5 percent each, while Sony is edging up 0.1 percent. Canon is edging down 0.5 percent.

Among the other major gainers, Mitsubishi Materials is jumping more than 7 percent, while Sumco and Sumitomo Metal Mining are surging more than 6 percent each. IHI, Denka and Kawasaki Heavy Industries are gaining almost 5 percent each. Hitachi, ENEOS Holdings, SHIFT, Japan Post Holdings, Chiba Bank, NEC, Dowa Holdings and Resona Holdings are advancing more than 4 percent each.

Conversely, Chubu Electric Power is tumbling more than 7 percent, Otsuka Holdings is losing almost 4 percent, Sumitomo Electric Industries is declining more than 3 percent and Chugai Pharmaceutical is down almost 3 percent.

In economic news, the monetary base in Japan dropped 9.8 percent on year in December, the Bank of Japan said on Tuesday – coming in at 594.194 trillion yen. That missed expectations for a fall of 8.0 percent following the 8.5 percent drop in November.

Banknotes in circulation fell 2.7 percent on year, while coins in circulation slipped 1.3 percent. Current account balances stumbled an annual 11.5 percent, including a 9.9 percent decline in reserve balances.

For the fourth quarter of 2025, the monetary base slumped 8.7 percent on year; for the whole year, the base fell 4.9 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 156-yen range on Tuesday.

Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong is up 1.4 percent, while New Zealand, China, Singapore, Taiwan and Indonesia are higher by between 0.1 and 0.9 percent each. South Korea and Malaysia are down 0.4 and 0.5 percent, respectively.

On Wall Street, stocks moved mostly higher during trading on Monday, regaining ground following the slump seen during holiday-interrupted previous week. The major averages all moved to the upside, with the Dow reaching a new record closing high.

The major averages finished the day off their highs of the session but still firmly positive. The Dow jumped 594.79 points or 1.2 percent to 48,977.18, the Nasdaq advanced 160.19 points or 0.7 percent to 23,395.82 and the S&P 500 climbed 43.58 points or 0.6 percent to 6,902.05.

The major European markets also moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index shot up by 1.3 percent, the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index climbed by 0.5 percent and the French CAC 40 Index rose by 0.2 percent.

Crude oil prices surged on Monday after OPEC reaffirmed its plans to pause production increases for early 2026, thereby allaying oversupply concerns. West Texas Intermediate crude for February delivery was up $58.31 or 0.99 percent at $1.73 per barrel.

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