Asia markets were higher on Tuesday morning following yet another day of record highs on Wall Street, as the U.S. and Mexico reached a trade agreement.
The Nikkei 225 traded in positive territory in early hours trade, up by 0.75 percent, with the country’s shipping sector being among the top gainers at 2.78 percent. South Korea’s Kospi was in positive territory too as it traded up by 0.43 percent, with industry heavyweight Samsung Electronics rising 0.86 percent.
The ASX 200 traded up by 0.46 percent as the market Down Under continued its recovery from last week’s political turmoil, where Scott Morrison emerged as the country’s sixth prime minister in the last decade. Vitamin maker Blackmores saw its stock surging 9.98 percent in morning trade after earlier reporting a 18.6 percent rise in its full-year profit.
Overnight, stocks on Wall Street moved higher on news that the U.S. and Mexico had reached an agreement on trade. The S&P 500 gained 0.8 percent to close at 2,896.74 — yet another record high. The Nasdaq Composite also ended the trading day stateside up by 0.9 percent to an all-time high of 8,017.90. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up by 259.29 points to close at 26,049.64.
On Monday, the United States and Mexico announced that a deal had been agreed upon after months of negotiations between the two countries over the future of the North American Free Trade Agreement. The new deal, which President Donald Trump has said would be called The United States-Mexico Trade Agreement, is expected to last 16 years and will be reviewed every six years pending its approval by Congress, according to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer.
“Risk sentiment was given a further leg up overnight with the news that the US and Mexico had agreed on a trade deal to replace NAFTA,” said David de Garis, a senior economist at the National Australia Bank, in a morning note, adding that “sticking points over the automotive sector have been resolved.”
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of currencies, was at 94.740 as of 8:26 a.m. HK/SIN.
The Japanese yen traded largely flat against the dollar at 111.17 while the Australian dollar traded at $0.7348 at 8:27 a.m. HK/SIN.
Oil prices increased on the back of Wall Street’s performance and news of the U.S.-Mexico trade deal. The global benchmark brent crude rose 39 cents, or 0.5 percent, to settle at $76.21 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures gained 15 cents, or 0.2 percent, to settle at $68.87 a barrel.
— Reuters contributed to this report
