Asia-Pacific markets rose on Tuesday, tracking gains on Wall Street, which ticked up after U.S. retail sales data appeared to ease recession concerns.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index led gains in Asia, rising 2.29% in its last hour on the back of strong moves in tech giants like Baidu, which was up 12.11% as at 3.45 p.m. local time.
Meanwhile, mainland China’s CSI 300 advanced 0.27% to end the day at 4,007.72.
Investors will be keeping a close watch on Japanese markets, as the Bank of Japan kicks off its two-day monetary policy meeting on Tuesday. The central bank is widely expected to hold interest rates steady at 0.5% when the meeting concludes on Wednesday.
The BOJ’s two-day meeting coincides with the U.S. Federal Reserve, with the latter also expected to keep interest rates unchanged.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 ended the day 1.20% higher at 37,845.42, while the broader Topix index rose 1.29% to 2,783.56.
Over in South Korea, the Kospi index closed flat at 2,612.34 while the small-cap Kosdaq added 0.27% to end at 745.54.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 ended the day flat at 7,860.40, paring gains from earlier in the session.
India’s benchmark Nifty 50 added 1.20%, while the BSE Sensex increased 1.07% as at 1.15 p.m. local time.
U.S. futures edged down, even after all three benchmarks made a comeback from a four-week decline exacerbated by falling consumer confidence and U.S. President Donald Trump’s chaotic tariff policy rollout.
The S&P 500 gained 0.64% to close at 5,675.12, while the Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.31% and ended at 17,808.66. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also advanced 353.44 points, or 0.85%, to end at 41,841.63.
The 30-stock index was bolstered by gains in Walmart and International Business Machines. All three of the major averages posted back-to-back gains.
— CNBC’s Sean Conlon and Sarah Min contributed to this report.
Many major Chinese companies are listed on the index, which is up 22.88% since the start of the year. The strong gains are led by tech giants.
The Hang Seng Tech Index was up 3.28% as at 2.43 p.m. local time. Top performers include Baidu which added 11.79%, NIO Inc was up 8.03% and Li Auto which rose 5.99%.
Julius Baer downgrades long-standing constructive stance on U.S. equities
Swiss investment bank Julius Baer has downgraded its “long-standing constructive stance” on U.S. equities and is now looking out for opportunities in other markets.
“With U.S. equities in oversold territory and a short-term countertrend bounce likely, we see this as an opportunity to further diversify into non-U.S. markets in the coming weeks,” Mathieu Racheter, head of equity strategy research at Julius Baer, wrote in a Tuesday note.
“Whether this divergence is sustainable hinges on whether the U.S. slowdown remains contained or escalates into a full-blown recession,” he added.
For instance, Racheter expects the rotation into non-U.S. equities to persist in the case of a moderate slowdown in the U.S. economy. However, he said a recession in the world’s largest economy is likely to trigger a broader bear market globally.
Racheter is playing the European market with Swiss equities — which offer a “combination of defensive quality and reasonable valuations” — and German mid-caps.
In Asia, he is overweight on Chinese equities “which are in a cyclical bull market” and Indian names which “provide long-term structural growth exposure.”
