Asia-Pacific markets opened higher on Tuesday, tracking overnight gains on Wall Street, where the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite closed at record highs.
By 11:40 am AEDT (12:40 am GMT) the S&P/ASX 200 climbed 0.8% to fresh record highs, Japan’s Nikkei 225 added 1.3%, and South Korea’s Kospi 200 rose 1.1%.
In other news, South Korea's Consumer Price Index (CPI) for November rose 1.5% on an annualised basis, slightly above the 1.3% October print, but beating estimates of a 1.7% gain.
On Wall Street, the Nasdaq rose 1% to 19,404.0, while the S&P 500 added 0.2% to 6,047.2, rallying to fresh record highs amid gains in the Magnificent Seven stocks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average however, slipped 0.3% to 44,782.0.
In commodity news, Brent crude oil edged up 0.1% to US$71.91 per barrel, while gold dipped 0.2% to US$2,638.95 per ounce.
Chinese markets posted gains on Monday, with the Shanghai Composite increasing 1.1% to 3,364.0 and the CSI 300 up 0.8% to 3,947.6. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index added 0.7% to close at 19,550.3.
Meanwhile, India’s BSE SENSEX rose 0.6% to 80,253.8.
European markets closed mixed. Germany's DAX gained 1.6% to 19,933.6, while France's CAC 40 was unchanged at 7,236.9 and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 rose 0.3% to 8,312.9.