Tokyo, March 28 (BNA): Asian stocks were mostly higher as investors took some comfort from concerns over troubled US banks with the failed Silicon Valley takeover plan.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 fell 0.1% to 27,456.98, according to the Associated Press (AP).
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 jumped 1.1%, to 7,036.20.
South Korea’s Kospi Index rose 0.4% to 2,419.43.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose nearly 0.4%, to 19,644.68.
The Shanghai Composite Index rose less than 0.1%, to 3,249.39.
Anderson Alves at ActivTrades said in a report that Asian stocks were positive on Tuesday, supported by major indices mostly higher in the previous session.
Markets were in turmoil after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, the second largest US bank failure in history, earlier this month, and then the third largest, by New York-based Signature Bank.
Investors have been looking for banks that could be next to fall as the system creaks under the pressure of much higher interest rates.
On Wall Street, the S&P 500 gained 0.2% to 3,977.53, after rising as much as 0.8%.
Banking and energy stocks were the main gainers in the benchmark index, outpacing losses in technology and telecom companies.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.6%, to 32,432.08.
The Nasdaq Composite fell 0.5% to 11,768.84, reflecting losses in Google parent Alphabet and other technology companies.
The winners outnumbered the losers on the New York Stock Exchange by about 3-1.
The S&P and Nasdaq are posting consecutive weekly gains.
First Citizens Bank jumped 53.7 percent after it said it would buy most of the Silicon Valley bank, whose failure earlier this month sent the industry uproar.
First Republic Bank jumped 11.8% and PacWest Bancorp rose 3.5%.
The Fed pulled its main interest rate overnight to a range of 4.75% to 5%, up from nearly zero at the start of last year.
He suggested last week that problems in the banking system could eventually raise interest rates on their own, by slowing lending.
The massive and rapid swings in the Federal Reserve’s expectations have caused moves of historic magnitude in the bond market.
Yields jumped on Monday in their latest surge.
The yield on 10-year Treasury notes, which helps set prices for mortgages and other important loans, rose to 3.53% from 3.37% late Friday.
It was higher than 4% earlier this month.
Low rates can act like steroids for stocks, and technology and other high-growth stocks tend to get an especially big boost.
This has helped the S&P 500, which is dominated by stocks of major technology companies such as Apple and Microsoft.
Other areas of the market that do not benefit from big tech stocks were weaker.
For example, the Russell 2000 index of smaller stocks is on track to lose 7.6% this month versus a gain of 0.2% for the S&P 500.
Russell outperformed the broader market on Monday, however, adding 1.1% to 1753.67.
In energy trading, US benchmark crude lost 2 cents to $72.79 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
It rose $3.55 to $72.81 a barrel on Monday.
Brent crude, the international benchmark, fell 21 cents to $77.91 a barrel.
In currency trading, the US dollar fell to 130.62 yen from 131.56 yen.
The euro cost $1.0813, up from $1.0804.
NAA