Asian markets higher after Wall Street sinks

AP

Asian stock markets rose Tuesday after Wall Street sank on worries the Trump administration might not do as much for businesses as once thought. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 gained 1 percent to 19,175.48 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng advanced 0.5 percent to 24,308.32.
The Shanghai Composite Index declined 0.4 percent to 3,252.81 while Sydney’s S&P-ASX 200 added 0.2 percent to 5,806.20. Seoul’s Kospi rose 0.2 percent to 2,159.35 and benchmarks in Taiwan and Singapore also rose. Malaysia and Manila declined while New Zealand was unchanged.
Worries that Washington may not be able to help businesses as much as once thought knocked stock indexes down hard early Monday, but they clawed back most of their losses and ended the day mixed.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 2.39 points, or 0.1 percent, to 2,341.59 for its seventh drop in the last eight days. The Dow Jones industrial average sank 45.74 points, or 0.2 percent, to 20,550.98, while the Nasdaq composite index rose 11.64, or 0.2 percent, to 5,840.37. When trading opened for the day, it looked as if losses would be much worse. The S&P 500 sank from the start and was down as much as 0.9 percent.
Last week’s failure by Republicans to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which they have pledged to do for years, raised doubts Washington can push through other promised changes to help businesses. Investors have been anticipating that President Donald Trump and the Republican-led Congress will cut taxes, loosen regulations for companies and institute other corporate-friendly policies.
“Markets appear reluctant to take the Trump disappointment too much further at this stage,” said Ric Spooner of CMC Markets in a report. “With US economic growth showing signs of improvement and the Fed clearly embarked on a monetary tightening cycle, the significant correction that has already occurred in bonds and the US dollar may already reflect an adequate wind back of the market’s Trump exuberance.”