Mainland Chinese shares led major Asia markets in making gains by the close on Tuesday, as sentiment continues to be buoyed by a recent phase one trade deal reached between Beijing and Washington.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 regained 113.77 points, or 0.5%, to 24,066.12.
The Japanese yen traded at 109.55 against the U.S. dollar, having weakened sharply from levels below 108.8 late last week.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index recovered 335.62 points, or 1.2%, to 27,843.71. Tech stocks gained, with Tencent up 2.8%. Shares of Meitu, a popular photo-editing app in China, rocketed 7%.
Shares of industry heavyweight Samsung Electronics were up by 3.7%, while chipmaker SK Hynix soared 4.7%.
Australian markets closed flat, as minutes from the Reserve Bank of Australian December meeting, where the central bank opted to leave the cash rate unchanged at 0.75%, showed it was “prepared to ease monetary policy further if needed.”
The Australian dollar last changed hands at $0.6870 following the release of the minutes, having seen an earlier high of $0.6885.
In corporate news, Australia’s banking regulator has launched an investigation into Westpac — one of the country’s four major banks — for alleged money laundering breaches. Westpac shares were down more than 1% in the morning.
CHINA
Market sentiment has gotten a boost in recent days after the U.S. and China announced Friday they have reached a phase one trade deal.
In Shanghai, the CSI 300 gained 54.25 points, or 1.4%, to 4,041.80
In other markets
In Taiwan, the Taiex rocketed 157.24 points, or 1.3%, to 12,097.01
In Korea, the Kospi re-strengthened 27.53 points, or 1.3%, to 2,195.68
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index dropped 5.29 points, or 0.2%, to 3,200.80
In New Zealand, the NZX moved ahead 34.01 points, or 0.3%, to 11,260.84
In Australia, the ASX 200 sank 2.43 points to 6,847.28
