Asian markets rose in early trading Tuesday, following record closing highs on Wall Street and more encouraging news on a trade deal.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +0.42% hit its first record high in four months, joining the S&P 500 SPX, +0.37% and Nasdaq Composite COMP, +0.56% , which both closed at record highs for the second day in a row. Stocks were boosted by better-than-expected third-quarter earnings and optimism over the likelihood of a “phase one” trade deal between the U.S. and China.
The Financial Times reported Monday that the U.S. was considering rolling back tariffs on $112 billion in Chinese goods as a concession to reach an initial deal, with China expected to show a similar good-faith effort. The Wall Street Journal later reported similar news, saying both sides would remove some tariffs if a deal was reached.
Japan’s Nikkei NIK, +1.76% surged 2% as traders returned from a Monday holiday. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index HSI, +0.49% rose 0.5%, while the Shanghai Composite SHCOMP, +0.54% gained 0.7% and the Shenzhen Composite 399106, +0.54% advanced 0.4%. South Korea’s Kospi 180721, +0.58% edged up 0.3% while benchmark indexes in Taiwan Y9999, +0.75% , Singapore STI, +0.38% and Indonesia JAKIDX, +1.36% all rose. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 XJO, +0.15% rose 0.3%.
Among individual stocks, SoftBank 9984, +2.43% and oil producer Inpex 1605, +6.14% jumped in Tokyo trading. Honda 7267, +2.28% and Sony 6758, +1.12% also gained. In Hong Kong, Apple component makers Sunny Optical 2382, +0.91% and AAC 2018, +2.43% advanced, and LG Electronics 066570, +1.79% rose in South Korea. Beach Energy BPT, +1.25% gained in Australia while Westpac WBC, -2.55% sank.