Stocks in Japan, South Korea and Australia saw gains in the morning of Asian trade, with investors keeping an eye to the upcoming U. S. midterm elections.
Asian stocks were mainly higher on Tuesday morning after the Dow rose nearly 200 points ahead of the U. S. midterm elections.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 climbed 0.85 percent in early trade and the Topix index saw gains of 0.86 percent.
Shares of conglomerate Softbank were up around 0.88 percent in the morning after the company reported a profit surge for the second quarter of 2018 helped by higher valuations on high-tech bets. The conglomerate’s CEO, Masayoshi Son, said on Monday that » there may be some impact » on its Saudi-backed Vision Fund following the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi
The Japanese tech investment giant has poured billions into start-ups in Silicon Valley and around the world through this investment fund.
The ASX 200 was 0.65 percent higher in morning trade, with most sectors seeing gains. The energy and materials sectors were up 1.27 and 1.05 percent, respectively, as the heavily-weighted financial subindex advanced 0.45 percent.
The Reserve Bank of Australia is due to announce its interest rate decision at 11:30 a.m. HK/SIN.
« The main event risk for the Asian session is the Reserve Bank of Australia’s latest Cash Rate Announcement. However, once again there is close to zero chance of a rate change and local investors looking to make money today will probably be (focusing) more on the Melbourne Cup which takes place 30 mins after the announcement, » said Rakuten Securities Australia in a morning note, in reference to an upcoming horse race.
« Despite this situation, market participants will be paying close attention to the accompanying rate statement for any subtle changes in the forecast from the bank and this could add some volatility to the currency at the very least, » the note said.
