Asian Shares Rise Following Wall Street Rally On Healthy Earnings

Tokyo: Asian shares were trading mostly higher Thursday, after a Wall Street rally that followed profit reports from major companies. Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 gained nearly 0.2 per cent in early trading to 38,888.04. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 surged 1.1 per cent to 8,507.60. South Korea's Kospi edged up 0.7 per cent to 2,526.21. Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.2 per cent to 20,640.73, while the Shanghai Composite added 0.6 per cent to 3,248.34. In Japan, Honda Motor Co. stock, which jumped the previous day after Japanese media reported its ongoing talks to set up a joint holding company with Japanese rival Nissan Motor Corp. will unravel, pared down some of those gains. Nissan shares, meanwhile, recovered to trade higher. The media reports continued Thursday, but there was no immediate confirmation from either company.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 rose 0.4 per cent, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 317 points, or 0.7 per cent, and the Nasdaq composite gained 0.2 per cent. Toymaker Mattel jumped 15.3 per cent after blowing past analysts' forecasts for profit in the latest quarter. Strength for its Hot Wheels brand helped make up for some softness for Barbie and other dolls. Mattel also gave a forecast for profit this upcoming year that topped analysts' expectations. Amgen rallied 6.5 per cent and was one of the strongest forces pushing upward on the S&P 500.

It reported stronger profit for the latest quarter than expected, thanks in part to growth for its Repatha medicine, which can lower bad cholesterol and reduce the risk of heart attack. They helped offset a 7.3 per cent drop for Alphabet, which sank even though Google's parent company reported stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Investors focused instead on slowing growth for its cloud business, whose revenue fell short of forecasts. They also homed in on the $75 billion Alphabet is budgeting for investments this year, roughly $15 billion more than analysts expected, as it remains in the rush to develop artificial-intelligence technology. Advanced Micro Devices fell 6.3 per cent even though the chip company beat profit expectations for the latest quarter.