Asian Markets Rally as Softbank Soars 105% on $8.83 Billion Share Buyback.

Shares in Asia-Pacific were mixed on Tuesday following overnight gains on Wall Street that took the major indexes to record closing highs. Meanwhile, bitcoin touched a record high.

Shares of Japanese conglomerate SoftBank Group soared 10.5% after the firm announced a plan to buy back up to one trillion yen ($8.83 billion) of its own shares. SoftBank on Monday reported a 398 billion yen ($3.5 billion) net loss in the three-month period ended Sept. 30.

Japan’s broader Nikkei 225 dipped 0.75% to close at 29,285.46 while the Topix index fell 0.81% to 2,018.77.

Mainland Chinese stocks finished the trading day higher as the Shanghai composite climbed 0.24% to 3,507 while the Shenzhen component advanced 0.435% to 14,571.93. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose about 0.1% as of its final hour of trading.

South Korea’s Kospi closed fractionally higher at 2,962.46. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.24% on the day to 7,434.20.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.2%. Japan’s Nikkei stock index slid 0.68% while Australian shares were down 0.24% as losses in the financial sector offset early gains among heavyweight mining stocks.

Bitcoin rose to a record high during Asia trading hours, with the cryptocurrency trading at $68,106.91 as of 2:23 a.m. ET Tuesday, according to data from Coin Metrics. Ether also hit an all-time high, trading at $4,820.

ADVERTISEMENT

All three major indexes on Wall Street advanced to record closing highs following the approval of an infrastructure spending package.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 104.27 points to 36,432.22 while the S&P 500 gained nearly 0.1% to 4,701.70. The Nasdaq Composite advanced fractionally to 15,982.36. Monday’s gains left all three major indexes closing at record highs.

The U.S. House of Representatives late Friday passed a more than $1 trillion infrastructure bill. First passed by the Senate in August, the package would provide new funding for transportation, utilities and broadband, among other infrastructure projects.

Asian Markets Currencies & Oil.

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 93.918 after a recent decline from above 94.2.

The Japanese yen traded at 112.83 per dollar, stronger than levels above 113.5 seen against the greenback yesterday. The Australian dollar was at $0.7425, still off levels above $0.75 seen last week.

Oil prices were mixed in the afternoon of Asia trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures down about 0.1% to $83.38 per barrel. U.S. crude futures rose fractionally to $81.96 per barrel.