Asia report: Solid rebound sends most markets higher

Markets in Asia were mostly higher on Tuesday, as investors reacted to a strong session on Wall Street overnight and seemingly shrugging off the latest trade concerns in the ongoing war of tariffs between Washington and Beijing.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 was up 0.69% at 22,662.74, as the yen strengthened 0.23% against the dollar to last trade at JPY 111.14.

The clear winner of the day in Tokyo was SoftBank, which leapt 6.54% after it reported a 29% improvement in its latest quarterly earnings report.

As a result, the telecoms sector lead the gains on the benchmark index, with most other sectors not far behind.

On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite surged 2.74% to 2,779.30, and the smaller, technology-heavy Shenzhen Composite was 2.75% higher at 1,495.05.

It was a solid rebound performance from Chinese markets, after a blue Monday in which investors reacted to the latest trade threats from both the White House and their own politicians.

South Korea’s Kospi was up 0.6% at 2,300.16, while the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong jumped 1.54% to 28,248.88.

Technology giant Samsung Electronics was among the leaders in Seoul, rising 1.97%, helping to offset losses seen among publicly-traded brokers and the Korean retail sector.

Oil prices were higher, with Brent crude last up 1.03% at $74.52 per barrel, and West Texas Intermediate rising 0.46% to $69.33.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.3% to 6,253.90, as the Reserve Bank of Australia satiated market expectations and stood pat on interest rates.

The materials and telecoms subindices led losses in Sydney.

Across the Tasman Sea, the S&P/NZX 50 was also down, falling 0.3% to 8,875.73, led lower by payment technology firm Pushpay, which was off 3.7%.

Both of the down under dollars were stronger on the greenback, with the Aussie last ahead 0.64% at AUD 1.3452, and the Kiwi advancing 0.09% to NZD 1.4839.