Asian Markets A Sea Of Green

(RTTNews) - Asian stock markets are a sea of green on Tuesday, despite the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, as traders react positively to US President Donald Trump's latest decision to delay imposing the planned tariffs on Mexico and Canada after successful negotiations with the respective leaders. The tariffs could have renewed inflation fears, leading the US Fed to keep interest rates on hold for longer. Asian markets closed mostly lower on Monday.

The Australian stock market is notably higher on Tuesday, reversing the losses in the previous session, despite the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is moving above the 8,400 level, with gains across most sectors led by mining and technology stocks, after US President Donald Trump's delayed the imposition of tariffs on major U.S. trading partners.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 36.50 points or 0.44 percent to 8,415.90, after touching a high of 8,446.80 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 44.60 points or 0.52 percent to 8,673.00. Australian stocks closed sharply lower on Monday.

Among the major miners, BHP Group is gaining almost 1 percent and Mineral Resources is advancing almost 3 percent, while Rio Tinto and Fortescue Metals are adding almost 2 percent each.

Oil stocks are mixed. Origin Energy, Woodside Energy and Santos are edging down 0.2 to 0.5 percent each, while Beach energy is gaining more than 1 percent.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is gaining almost 2 percent, Xero is up more than 1 percent, Zip is advancing almost 6 percent, WiseTech Global is adding 2.5 percent and Appen is surging more than 8 percent after reporting upbeat fourth-quarter results.

Gold miners are mostly higher. Evolution Mining and Newmont are up almost 1 percent each, while Resolute Mining is gaining more than 1 percent, Northern Star resources is edging up 0.5 percent and Gold Road Resources is adding more than 2 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank, ANZ Banking and National Australia Bank are edging up 0.2 to 0.5 percent each, while Westpac is adding almost 1 percent.

In other news, shares in Predictive Discovery are gaining more than 12 percent after the gold explorer would offload a 10 per cent stake to two mining investors to raise $69.2 million.

Shares in Nufarm are surging almost 4 percent after the chemicals company told investors a previously announced belt-tightening program remains on track.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.621 on Tuesday.

The Japanese stock market is trading sharply higher on Tuesday, reversing the sharp losses in the previous session, despite the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, with the Nikkei 225 moving above the 39,100 level, with gains across most sectors led by index heavyweights and technology stocks, after US President Donald Trump's delayed the imposition of tariffs on major U.S. trading partners. The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index closed the morning session at 39,140.41, up 620.32 points or 1.61 percent, after touching a high of 39,192.51 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply lower on Monday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining more than 1 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging up 0.2 percent. Among automakers, Honda is gaining more than 2 percent and Toyota is advancing almost 3 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is advancing more than 4 percent, Tokyo Electron is gaining more than 2 percent and Screen Holdings is adding almost 2 percent.

In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is gaining almost 1 percent and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is adding more than 1 percent, while Mizuho Financial is flat.

The major exporters are mostly higher. Panasonic and Mitsubishi Electric are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Canon is advancing more than 3 percent and Sony is adding almost 2 percent.

Among the other major gainers, Yamato Holdings is skyrocketing more than 9 percent, while Sumitomo Chemical and Kyocera are soaring almost 9 percent each. Sumitomo Pharma is surging almost 8 percent, while Taiyo Yuden and Murata Manufacturing are advancing almost 7 percent each. Furukawa Electric and Mazda Motor are gaining more than 5 percent each, while NTT Data Group, JTEKT, Sumitomo Electric Industries and Osaka Gas are adding almost 5 percent. Nitto Denko, Lasertec and Japan Steel Works are up more than 4 percent each.

Conversely, Mitsubishi Motors is tumbling more than 12 percent and Aozora Bank is losing almost 4 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 155 yen-range on Tuesday.

Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong and Singapore are surging 3.1 and 1.8 percent, respectively, while New Zealand, South Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan and Indonesia are lower by between 0.2 and 1.1 percent each. China remains closed for the Lunar New Year break. On Wall Street, stocks moved sharply lower early in the session on Monday but regained ground over the course of the trading day. The major averages climbed well off their worst levels, with the Dow briefly reaching positive territory, but ended the day in the red.

After plunging by as much as 2.5 percent in early trading, the tech-heavy Nasdaq finished the session down 235.49 points or 1.2 percent at 19,391.96. The S&P 500 also slid 45.96 points or 0.8 percent to 5,994.57, while the Dow fell 122.75 points or 0.3 percent to 44,421.91.

The major European markets also showed notable moves to the downside. While the German DAX Index tumbled 1.4 percent, the French CAC 40 Index slumped by 1.2 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index slid by 1.0 percent.

Crude oil prices settled higher on Monday after Trump's imposed tariffs on imports from Canada threatened to disrupt North America's tightly integrated oil market. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March settled at $73.16 a barrel, up $0.63 or about 0.87 percent.