Shares in Asia-Pacific were mixed in Tuesday afternoon trade, with Australian and Japanese stocks leading gains regionally.
The Nikkei 225 in Japan gained 0.96% to finish the trading day at 29,441.30 while the Topix index advanced 0.8% to close at 1,975.48.
The S&P/ASX 200 jumped 0.92% to close at 7,379.50. Members of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s board agreed it would be “premature” to consider ceasing the bond purchase program, minutes from the central bank’s monetary policy meeting for June showed.
South Korea’s Kospi edged 0.2% higher on the day to 3,258.63.
Elsewhere, mainland Chinese stocks closed lower, with the Shanghai composite slipping 0.92% to 3,556.56 while the Shenzhen component dipped 0.864% to 14,673.34. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index declined about 0.6%, as of its final hour of trading.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose about 0.1%.
Overnight on Wall Street, the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.74% to an all-time closing high of 14,174.14. The S&P 500 also cruised to another record close, rising 0.18% to 4,255.15. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lagged, dipping 85.85 points to 34,393.7
Asian Markets Currencies and oil
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 90.374 following an earlier high of 90.546.
The Japanese yen traded at 109.99 per dollar following a recent weakening from below 109.8 against the greenback. The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7702, off levels above $0.774 seen last week.
Oil prices were higher in the afternoon of Asia trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures up 0.32% to $73.09 per barrel. U.S. crude futures gained 0.27% to $71.07 per barrel.
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