Rally in global markets continues

Tokyo: Asian shares mostly rose on Tuesday as investors kept their eyes on potentially market-moving reports expected later this week. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 jumped 1.3 per cent to 38,442.28 in early trading, coming back from a national holiday. Sydney’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.3 per cent to 7,658.20. South Korea’s Kospi added 0.6 per cent to 2,703.27. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng edged up 0.3 per cent to 17,795.09, while the Shanghai Composite fell 0.1 per cent to 3,109.62.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 rose 16.21 points, or 0.3 per cent, to 5,116.17, coming off its best week since November. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 146.43, or 0.4 per cent, to 38,386.09, and the Nasdaq composite gained 55.18, or 0.3 per cent, to 15,983.08. About a third of the companies in the S&P 500, including heavyweights Amazon and Apple, will report this week on how much profit they made during the first three months of the year. With roughly half the companies in the index reporting so far, the quarterly results have largely been better than expected.