Asian stocks advanced Wednesday, tracking gains on Wall Street as markets reopened for what is expected to be a quiet, holiday-shortened trading week.
US futures rose and oil prices remained stable.
Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index added 1.2% to 33,681.24 as details from a Bank of Japan policy meeting showed officials were divided over the timing and need to move away from the loose monetary policy of long history of the central bank.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 1.9% to 16,661.00 and the Shanghai Composite gained 0.6% to 2,915.05, with Chinese video game companies including Tencent and NetEase recouping losses in the first session Hong Kong stock market after the government. tried to ease market fears on draft guidelines to impose controls on how companies make money from games. However, the gains were dwarfed by losses from a widespread sell-off on Friday.
NetEase's Hong Kong-listed shares gained 10.4%, after its Nasdaq-listed shares rose 5.2% on Tuesday. Tencent's rose 5.9% in Hong Kong and Bilibili added 7.5%.
Seoul's Kospi rose 0.4% to 2,613.50. In Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.8% to 7,561.20.
Bangkok's SET fell less than 0.1% and Mumbai's Sensex rose 0.7%.
On Wall Street on Tuesday, the S&P 500 rose 0.4% to 4,774.75, finishing less than 0.5% below its all-time high set nearly two years ago. The benchmark is coming off eight consecutive weekly gains, its longest winning streak since 2017.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.4% to 37,545.33, while the Nasdaq composite finished 0.5% higher at 15,074.57.
Trading was relatively light as U.S. markets reopened after the Christmas Day holiday. Still, the latest gains were broad-based, with advancers outpacing decliners by nearly 3 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange.
Technology and industrial stocks accounted for a large portion of the gains. Intel rose 5.2%, posting the biggest gain among S&P 500 stocks. Caterpillar added 1.8%.
Energy stocks rose as the price of US crude oil rose 2.7%. Hess closed up 1.4%.
Strong gains in smaller company stocks also helped lift the market, pushing the Russell 2000 index up 1.2%.
Treasury yields were mixed. The 10-year Treasury yield was steady at 3.90%.
Some stocks rose on news of corporate deals. Drugmaker Bristol-Myers Squibb said Tuesday it will acquire RayzeBio in a $4.1 billion deal, just days after buying Karuna Therapeutics. for 14 billion dollars. Bristol-Myers shares fell 1.6%, while RayzeBio doubled to $61.40, close to the $62.50 each share will reach upon its acquisition.
HollySys Automation Technologies shares rose 5.2% after the company received an updated takeover offer from a consortium led by Dazheng Group Acquisition.
Stratasys jumped 13% to $14.82 per share after Nano Dimension announced it had offered to pay $16.50 per share in cash to buy the 3D printer maker. Stratasys rejected a previous takeover offer for Nano Dimension in April.
Gracell Biotechnologies rose 60.3% after the Shanghai-based biopharmaceutical company agreed to be acquired by AztraZeneca.
With less than a week left in 2024, the S&P 500 is up more than 24% for the year, while the Nasdaq is up 44%.
Investors have been encouraged by reports showing inflation is declining even when the economy appears stronger than expected.
The Federal Reserve is walking a tightrope, seeking to slow the economy enough through high interest rates to cool inflation, but not enough to tip the nation into recession.
In other trading early Wednesday, benchmark U.S. crude oil lost 4 cents to $75.53 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, the international standard, gained 8 cents to $80.93 a barrel.
The US dollar rose to 142.79 Japanese yen from 142.38 yen. The euro rose to $1.1050 from $1.1044.
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