Asian stocks rise after North Korea, U.S. make diplomatic overtures

Yuri Kageyama, The Associated Press</span>
Published Tuesday, August 15, 2017 12:20AM EDT

TOKYO - Asian shares rose Tuesday as both Koreas and the U.S. appeared to indicate a willingness to defuse the crisis over North Korea's nuclear program. A rally on Wall Street, on the back of strong technology shares, also helped.

KEEPING SCORE: Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 gained 1.3 per cent to 19,789.13 in morning trading. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 added 0.7 per cent to 5,770.90. South Korea's Kospi rose 0.6 per cent to 2,334.22. Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 1.4 per cent to 27,250.23, while the Shanghai Composite was up 0.8 per cent at 3,262.54.

NORTH KOREA: North Korea said Tuesday leader Kim Jong Un was briefed on his military's plans to launch missiles into waters near Guam. But the comments also appeared to signal a path to defuse the deepening crisis with Washington, holding out the possibility that friction could ease if the U.S. made some gesture that Pyongyang considered a move to back away from previous "extremely dangerous reckless actions."

WALL STREET: The S&P 500 jumped 24.52 points, or 1 per cent, to 2,465.84. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 135.39 points, or 0.6 per cent, to 21,993.71. The Nasdaq composite added 83.68 points, or 1.3 per cent, to 6,340.23.

THE QUOTE: "The markets continue to recover from last week's disorder as U.S. equities orchestrated a splendid showing recouping some of the sharp losses from last Friday, as investor confidence returns with the de-escalation of North Korea tension," says Stephen Innes, head of trading for Asia at OANDA.

ENERGY: U.S. crude oil added 8 cents to $47.67 a barrel. It lost $1.23 to $47.59 a barrel in New York Monday. Brent crude, the international standard, rose 13 cents to $50.86 a barrel in London.

CURRENCIES: The dollar rose to 110.19 yen from 109.57 yen late Monday in Asia. The euro fell to $1.1784 from $1.1816.

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