Today's Edition
HONG KONG (AFP)
Asian markets mostly rose on Tuesday with Tokyo closing at a record high on speculation over a snap election, while concerns about Iran pushed oil prices higher.
The rallies followed another record ending on Wall Street overnight, where investors shrugged off worries about a US criminal probe of the Federal Reserve central bank.
Tokyo's Nikkei closed 3.1 percent up, driven by anticipation that Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi will capitalise on strong poll numbers by calling an election.
Takaichi became Japan's first woman prime minister in October and her cabinet has an approval rating of around 70 percent. But her ruling bloc only has a slim majority in parliament's powerful lower house, hindering her ambitious policy agenda.
Tokyo's gains were mirrored by increases in Hong Kong, Sydney, Singapore, and Malaysia. Shanghai was down at the close, with Wellington, Mumbai, Bangkok, and Manila also in the red.
London and Frankfurt were flat at the open, with Paris in the red.
Seoul climbed 1.5 percent after South Korean chip giant SK hynix said it would spend 19 trillion won ($12.9 billion) building an advanced chip packaging plant, as the firm rides the global AI boom.
It came after New York's Dow and S&P 500 ended at records for a second straight day.
The tech-rich Nasdaq index also bounced back from early losses after Sunday night's disclosure of the US Department of Justice probe into the Federal Reserve.
Broad optimism over the global economy and technological advances such as artificial intelligence have built market sentiment in recent months.
Oil prices rose after US President Donald Trump announced a 25 percent tariff on any country trading with Iran.
Michael Wan at MUFG noted that Iran makes up three percent of global oil production, with Venezuela supplying around one percent “as a rough rule of thumb.”
Trump said in a social media post on Monday that the new levies would "immediately" hit Iran's trading partners who also do business with the United States.
