Asian shares rise tracking Wall Street gains

Asian shares mostly advanced, tracking Wall Street, after US President Donald Trump walked back from imposing tariffs on eight European countries over Greenland and ruled out using military force to take control of the territory.

The future for the S&P 500 was up 0.4 per cent on Thursday, while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 0.3 per cent. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 climbed 1.9 per cent to 53,760.85, with technology stocks among those leading the gain. SoftBank Group jumped 11 per cent and chipmaker Tokyo Electron rose 3.7 per cent. South Korea’s Kospi was up 2 per cent to 5,008.08, crossing the 5,000 mark for the first time after hitting records earlier this month. Technology-related stocks drove the rally. Shares of Samsung Electronics rose 3.3 per cent, and chipmaker SK Hynix was up 2.3 per cent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.2 per cent to 26,531.29. The Shanghai Composite index dropped nearly 0.2 per cent, to 4,110.86. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 traded 0.7 per cent higher to 8,841.70.

Taiwan’s Taiex jumped 2 per cent, while India’s Sensex rose 0.7 per cent. US markets logged to heir biggest losses since October on Tuesday as investors reacted to Trump’s threat over the weekend to slap tariffs of 10 per cent on Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Finland for opposing US control of Greenland, sparking concerns over worsening relationships between the US and its European allies. But Trump, attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, backed down on Wednesday and said he would not use force to acquire Greenland.

The US president also said in a post on his social media site that he had agreed with the head of NATO on a “framework of a future deal” on Greenland and on Arctic security. The easing tensions drove Wall Street optimism. On Wednesday, the S&P 500 climbed 1.2 per cent to 6,875. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.2 per cent to 49,077.23, while the Nasdaq composite also rose 1.2 per cent, to 23,224.82. Halliburton, the oil field services company, jumped 4.1 per cent following stronger-than-expected profits for the latest quarter. United Airlines rose 2.2 per cent also after better-than-expected quarterly profits.

Netflix fell 2.2 per cent even as it reported a stronger profit than expected, as investors focused on factors including a slowing growth of subscribers. The price of gold fell 0.9 per cent to $4,794.70 per ounce, reflecting investors’ reduced worries, after it passing the $4,800 mark on Wednesday ahead of Trump’s reversal of stance on Greenland as many flocked to safe-haven assets. In the bond market, US Treasury yields also eased following lessened fear among investors as well as a calming of Japan’s bond market turmoil.

Japan’s long-term bond yields had surged earlier to records, following its prime minister Sanae Takaichi’s decision to call a snap election in February, which sparked concerns over acceleration of her pledges to cut taxes and increase spending which could increase government burden. The yield on the 10-year Treasury eased to 4.25 per cent from 4.30 per cent late Tuesday. The US dollar rose to 158.54 Japanese yen from 158.27 yen. The euro was mostly unchanged at $1.1693.