Asian shares mostly higher, tracking Wall Street advance

Bangkok, Oct 25 (BNA): Shares rose Tuesday in Asia after Wall Street dumped an early bout of unstable trading and closed higher.

US futures rose 0.1% as oil prices rose.

Hong Kong’s benchmark Hang Seng rose 0.9% to 15,313.22 after selling 6.4% the previous day that brought it to a 14-year closing low.

The Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.7% to 2,999.55.

The plunge in Chinese stocks on Monday came on the heels of the conclusion of a Communist Party congress in Beijing where leader Xi Jinping granted himself an unprecedented third five-year term, appointed key allies as top leaders in the ruling party, and defeated officials seen as pro-market reformists, according to the report. As reported by the British newspaper The Guardian. To The Associated Press (AP).

Xi wants a greater role for the Communist Party in China’s business and technology development, raising concerns that central control will cripple an economy that is already slowing.

At a press conference on Tuesday, Hong Kong leader John Lee said his administration’s assessment showed market activities were proceeding in an orderly manner, although he urged investors to make careful decisions.

“Yes, volatility will be high, but our long-tested systems and response systems are working all the time. We have a robust response plan for various emergencies,” he said.

In other Asian trading, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.2% to 27301.50 while Seoul’s Kospi rose 0.3% to 2242.42. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.3% to 6,799.50.

Taiwan’s index fell 1.2%, while India’s Sensex rose 0.2%.

On Wall Street on Monday, stocks extended gains from last week as investors braced for a big week of earnings from major tech companies.

The S&P 500 rose 1.2% to 3,797.34, with technology, healthcare, and financial stocks accounting for a large share of the gains. Only the materials and real estate sector shares fell.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.3% to 31,499.62, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite closed 0.9% higher at 10,952.61.

Small-cap stocks also rose. The Russell 2000 Index rose 0.4% to 1748.40.

Google’s parent company, along with Facebook’s parent company, Amazon and Apple, announced their latest financial results this week. It’s among the most expensive stocks in the S&P 500 and its earnings this week could mean big moves, up or down, for the broader market.

Several major companies outside the technology sector also reported earnings this week, including Coca-Cola, General Motors and Caterpillar.

Trading has been choppy this month, but the major indices are up strongly as they enter the last full week of October after two market spikes last week. The S&P 500 is up 5.9% so far this month, while the Dow is up 9.7%. The Nasdaq is more modest 3.6%.

Investors are closely reviewing the latest round of corporate earnings to get a better picture of the impact of inflation on various areas of the economy. Prices for everything from clothes to food have been at their highest levels in four decades. This has put pressure on companies to raise prices and cut costs, while putting pressure on consumers.

The Federal Reserve and central banks around the world raised interest rates to tame inflation, and those increases were weighing on higher-priced stocks, such as technology companies, by making less risky bonds look more attractive in a volatile stock market.

Extreme interest rate increases by the Federal Reserve have economists and investors worried that the central bank could go too far in slowing the economy into recession. The US economy is already slowing, shrinking during the first half of the year. The US government will release its third-quarter GDP report on Thursday.

The Federal Reserve is expected to raise interest rates by another three-quarters of a percentage point at its next meeting in November. Markets were looking for any indication that the central bank is ready to ease interest rate increases.

Also on Monday, British government bonds surged as Treasurer Chief Rishi Sunak rested assured of becoming prime minister, replacing Liz Truss, who resigned last week after an economic tax cut package roiled financial markets.

In other trading, the dollar fell to 148.88 yen from 148.94 yen. The euro rose to 98.81 cents from 98.75 cents.

Benchmark US crude oil rose 31 cents to $84.89 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It lost 47 cents to $84.58 a barrel on Monday.

Brent crude, the international pricing standard, rose 28 cents to $84.86 a barrel.

HF