A Japanese flag flies near a cargo container at Odaiba Waterfront in Tokyo, August 6, 2020.
Behrouz Mehri | Contributor | Getty Images
Asia-Pacific markets opened higher on Tuesday with gains on Wall Street, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average reaching a record close as the earnings season got off to a strong start.
Investors in Asia will assess trade data from Japan and employment data from Australia in the morning.
Japanese Nikkei Stock Average Although the index fell by 0.6%, there was little change in the overall Topix.
Japan’s exports fell 1.7% in September from a year earlier, surprising economists polled by Reuters who had expected growth of 0.5%. This is the first time this year that exports have contracted, significantly down from August’s revised growth rate of 5.5%.
Imports grew by 2.1% in September, which was also lower than economists had predicted, who had expected growth of 3.2%. This was down from the 2.3% increase in August.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index rose 0.8% in early trade.
Australia’s unemployment rate in September was 4.1%, slightly lower than the 4.2% forecast for flatness from August in a Reuters poll.
Australia’s labor force participation rate rose slightly to 67.2% in September, up 0.1 points from August and expectations.
South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.1%, while the small-cap Kosdaq fell 0.3%.
Hong Kong hansen index Shares rose 1.9% on Wednesday after the company’s CEO announced a number of policies.
The CSI 300 rose by 0.7% at the time of closing.
Taiwan semiconductor manufacturing company It is scheduled to report earnings later Thursday. TSMC’s performance will be closely watched after Dutch semiconductor equipment maker ASML’s lackluster sales outlook has pushed down global semiconductor stocks.
The Dow Jones overnight in the US rose 337.28 points, or 0.79%, to end at 43,077.70.
The S&P 500 rose 0.47% to 5,842.47 and the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.28% to close at 18,367.08.
—CNBC’s Lisa Kailai Han and Jesse Pound contributed to this report.
