Asia stocks rise modestly, taking lead from Wall Street
Jul 20, 2015, 8:00 PM
FILE - In this Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2014, file photo, commuters rush from subway trains at a Wall Street station, in New York. Asian stocks were mixed and Europe rose Monday, July 20, 2015, as investors put Greece's debt crisis behind them to focus on the outlook for interest rates, corporate earnings and China's economy. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)
(AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)
HONG KONG (AP) — Most Asian stock markets were modestly higher Tuesday after positive U.S. earnings reports boosted sentiment.
KEEPING SCORE: Japan’s Nikkei 225 added 0.4 percent to 20,739.83 and South Korea’s Kospi edged up 0.1 percent to 2,075.60. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.1 percent to 25,426.52 while the Shanghai Composite Index in mainland China remained volatile, losing 0.9 percent to 3,955.93 after closing higher the day before. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 climbed 0.2 percent to 5,694.30.
GLOBAL OUTLOOK: Now that the Greek crisis is fading from view and China’s stock market plunge has abated, investors are taking the pulse of the global economy. They’ll be looking at the wave of U.S. second-quarter corporate results being released this week, including by U.S. toymaker Hasbro and the oil and gas company Halliburton, which reported better than expected earnings on Monday. On Tuesday, investors were also examining minutes from meetings by the Bank of Japan and the Reserve Bank of Australia.
WALL STREET: U.S. stocks ended slightly higher Monday after a day of mostly listless trading, with the Nasdaq rising to a record high for the second day in a row. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 0.1 percent to 18,100.41 and the Standard & Poor’s 500 added 0.1 percent to 2,128.28. The Nasdaq rose 0.2 percent to 5,218.86.
ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude slipped 19 cents to $49.96 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 74 cents to close at $50.15 a barrel in New York on Monday. Brent crude, a benchmark for international oils used by many U.S. refineries, fell 14 cents to $56.51 in London.
CURRENCIES: The dollar rose to 124.34 yen from 124.31 in late trading Monday. The euro slipped to $1.0826 from $1.0832.
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