Asian shares continue rally after Wall Street gains

Yuri Kageyama, The Associated Press</span>
Published Thursday, September 13, 2018 11:38PM EDT

TOKYO -- Asian shares were mostly higher Friday, continuing their rally after gains on Wall Street and hopes that regional trade tensions may ease.

KEEPING SCORE: Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 gained nearly 1.0 per cent to 23,042.83 in the morning session. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.6 per cent at 6,165.30. South Korea's Kospi added 1.3 per cent to 2,316.09. Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.7 per cent to 27,206.18, while the Shanghai Composite index lost 0.3 per cent to 2,679.99.

WALL STREET: The S&P 500 index gained 15.26 points, or 0.5 per cent, to 2,904.18. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 147.07 points, or 0.6 per cent, to 26,145.99. The Nasdaq composite jumped 59.48 points, or 0.7 per cent, to 8,013.71. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks dipped 1.38 points, or 0.1 per cent, to 1,714.32.

THE QUOTE: "Gains on Wall Street coupled with the softer U.S. dollar following U.S. inflation disappointments posed a more benign situation for Asia markets into the end of the week as we watch Chinese numbers," says Jingyi Pan, market strategist at IG in Singapore.

CHINA FACTOR: Investors are worried about the impact on the regional economy of trade tensions under President Donald Trump's tariff policies, amid reports of a new round of talks that would give the Chinese government another chance to address U.S. concerns before the Trump administration imposes bigger tariffs.

ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude added 18 cents to $68.77 a barrel. It slid 2.5 per cent to $68.59 a barrel in New York Thursday. Brent crude, used to price international oils, rose 7 cents to $78.25 a barrel in London.

CURRENCIES: The dollar rose to 111.90 yen from 111.45 yen. The euro rose to $1.1692 from $1.1642.

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