Asia-Pacific markets mostly rose Tuesday, rebounding from a sell-off in the previous session, with the Nikkei 225 hitting a 33-year high on the back of gains in tech stocks.
The index rose 1.16% to close at its highest level since March 1990 at 33,763.18. The Topix advanced 0.82% to end at 2,413.09.
Investors also assessed December inflation numbers for Japan’s capital city of Tokyo, which are a leading indicator for nationwide inflation.
Tokyo’s inflation rate slowed to 2.4% in December from 2.6% in the previous month. Core inflation — which strips out prices of fresh food — remained unchanged at 2.1%, and came in line with expectations.
Australia’s retail sales for November 2023 also rose more than expected, gaining 2% month-on-month and beating economists expectations of 1.2% in a Reuters poll.
The country’s benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index climbed 0.93%, closing at 7,520.5 and snapping a four-day losing streak.
South Korea’s Kospi slipped 0.26% to 2,561.24, the only benchmark index in negative territory as heavyweight Samsung Electronics cut its earnings forecast for the fourth quarter of 2023, while the small-cap Kosdaq gained 0.6% to end at 884.64.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index inched up 0.34%, while the mainland Chinese CSI 300 was up 0.29%.
Overnight in the U.S., all three major indexes gained, boosted by tech shares.
Shares of Nvidia rose 6.4%, reaching an all-time high, and Amazon climbed nearly 2.7% to help pull the Nasdaq higher. Separately, Alphabet shares advanced 2.3%, while Apple added 2.4% after Evercore ISI advised clients to buy last week’s dip.
The S&P 500 gained 1.41%, and the Nasdaq Composite jumped 2.2% to mark the tech-heavy index’s best day since Nov. 14.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 216.90 points, or 0.58%, settling at 37,683.01.
— CNBC’s Sarah Min and Pia Singh contributed to this report
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