TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares mostly rose Tuesday as investors were encouraged by another rally on Wall Street.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 gained 1.2% to finish at 37,845.42.
The Bank of Japan was expected to keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged at a monetary policy board meeting due to wrap up Wednesday.
The U.S. Federal Reserve also is due to announce its latest decision on interest rates Wednesday.
Shares in major Japanese trading companies rose after Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway reported increases in its ownership of those companies. Itochu Corp. rose 2.5%, Marubeni Corp. added 3.5%, and Mitsubishi Corp. gained 3.6%, while Mitsui & Co. shares were up 3.1%. The investments, although still under 10% in each company, are seen as an expression of confidence in the Japanese economy.
Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng jumped 2.2% to 24,670.80, led by buying of tech-related stocks. The Shanghai Composite inched up 0.1% to 3,431.06.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose nearly 0.1% to 7,860.40. South Korea’s Kospi inched up less than 0.1% to 2,612.34.
Trading on Indonesia stock exchange was suspended temporarily as the benchmark JSX tumbled as much as 6%. But it bounced back a bit, falling 3.5%. Investors have been selling shares in state-owned banks after the government launched a sovereign wealth fund, called Danantara, that so far has not proven popular. Worries over U.S. President Donald Trumps tariff increases and other risks have also shaken confidence in the economy, said Budi Frensidy, a professor at the University of Indonesia.
On Wall Street, stocks climbed again on Monday as the wild roller-coaster ride veered upward.
The S&P 500 rose 0.6% to 5,675.12, for a second straight gain after it fell 10% below its record late last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.9% to 41,841.63, and the Nasdaq composite added 0.3% to 17,808.66.
On Wall Street, Intel climbed 6.8% to extend its gains after the chip company named former board member and semiconductor industry veteran Lip-Bu Tan as its CEO last week.
PepsiCo added 1.9% after saying it had agreed to buy Poppi, a prebiotic soda brand, for a net $1.65 billion.
They helped offset a 4.8% drop for Tesla. The electric-vehicle company’s stock has been struggling this year amid worries that its brand has become too intertwined with Elon Musk, who has been leading efforts to cut spending by the U.S. government. Tesla vehicles and dealerships have become targets of people unhappy with Trump and his policies.
Stocks have been mostly tumbling on worries that Trump’s rat -a- tat announcements on tariffs and other policies are creating so much uncertainty that they’ll push U.S. households and businesses to freeze their spending, which would hurt the economy. Surveys have shown sharp drops in confidence, and some companies are already warning about changes in behavior from their customers.
A report Monday said U.S. retailers broadly saw weaker revenue last month than economists expected. But that mainly was due to weaker-than-forecast sales of automobiles and lower fuel costs.
The U.S. economy closed last year running at a solid rate. Excitement at the time was also building about policies coming from Trump to accelerate growth. Hiring still remains relatively healthy, and that could help keep the economy growing, but talk of a recession alone can undermine confidence.
Virtually no one expects the Fed to make a move Wednesday. The central bank has been keeping rates steady so far this year, preferring to see how conditions play out. Late last year it was cutting rates sharply in hopes of relaxing pressure on the U.S. economy after high inflation had slowed.
In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude added 35 cents to $67.93 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, rose 38 cents to $71.45 a barrel.
In currency trading, the U.S. dollar edged up to 149.74 Japanese yen from 149.21 yen. The euro stood unchanged at $1.0922.
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AP writer Niniek Karmini in Jakarta contributed to this report.