Asian Stocks Mostly Higher Tuesday
TOKYO (AP) -- Asian shares were mostly higher Tuesday after the White House said it reached a preliminary agreement with Mexico on replacing a North American free-trade deal.
KEEPING SCORE: Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 finished at 22,813.47, up 0.1 percent. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.6 percent to 6,304.70. South Korea's Kospi edged up 0.1 percent to 2,302.42. Hong Kong's Hang Seng was virtually unchanged, inching down less than 0.1 percent to 28,257.12, while the Shanghai Composite index fell 0.3 percent to 2,772.66, adjusting from gains the previous day.
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TRADE DEAL: Asian economies generally benefit from trade deals that will encourage exports to the U.S. The Nasdaq composite index topped 8,000 for the first time after the NAFTA news, although the trade deal isn't final. The U.S. still needs to reach an understanding with Canada, the third party in the accord.
WALL STREET: The S&P 500 index climbed 22.05 points, or 0.8 percent, on Monday to 2,896.74. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 259.29 points, or 1 percent, to 26,049.64. The Nasdaq composite gained 71.92 points, or 0.9 percent, to 8,017.90. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks added 2.73 points, or 0.2 percent, to 1,728.41.
THE QUOTE: "Risk sentiment continues to improve with U.S. markets bolstered by the progress in the latest NAFTA progress, set to inspire Asian market higher into the session," said Jingyi Pan, market strategist at IG in Singapore.
TOYOTA GAINS: Toyota Motor Corp. shares got a perk from the NAFTA news as the top Japanese automaker benefits from free trade. The manufacturer was also boosted by its announcement that it was investing $500 million in ride-hailing service Uber and will partner with Uber to build self-driving cars. Toyota was trading up nearly 2 percent in the morning session on the Tokyo Stock Exchange but settled at 0.9 percent higher in the afternoon.
ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude lost 11 cents to $68.76 a barrel. It edged up 0.2 percent to $68.87 a barrel in the New York. Brent crude, used to price international oils, fell 9 cents to $76.12 a barrel.
CURRENCIES: The dollar rose to 111.21 yen from 111.19 late Monday. The euro rose to $1.1677 from $1.1611.
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