Asia-Pacific markets advanced on Tuesday, following Wall Street’s strong overnight gains driven by revived optimism in artificial intelligence stocks and growing confidence that the United States government shutdown could soon come to an end.
By 11:50 am AEDT (12:50 am GMT), Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 had risen 0.2%, Japan’s Nikkei 225 was up 1%, and South Korea’s Kospi 200 gained 2.7%.
On the data front, Australia’s National Australia Bank reported that its index of business conditions rose one point to +9 in October, marking its highest reading since March 2024.
The accompanying business confidence index fell one point to +6 but remained comfortably above its long-run average.
In a separate release, the Westpac–Melbourne Institute Consumer Sentiment Index surged 12.8% to 103.8 in November from 92.1 in October.
Matthew Hassan, Head of Australian Macro-Forecasting, noted: "This is an extraordinary and somewhat surprising result. November marks the first ‘net positive’ read on consumer sentiment in the best part of four years.
"Much of the November sentiment gain is coming from a markedly more confident assessment of prospects for the economy. The ‘economic outlook, next 12 months’ and the ‘economic outlook, next 5 years’ sub-indexes both jumped sharply in the month (up 16.6% and 15.3% respectively).
"Both sub-indexes are now in solid positive territory, well above long-run averages."
In the U.S. on Monday, major benchmarks closed higher, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising 0.8%, the S&P 500 advancing 1.5%, and the Nasdaq Composite gaining 2.3% after a broad rebound in AI-linked technology shares.
Commodities also strengthened. Brent crude climbed 0.7% to settle at US$64.06 per barrel, while spot gold surged 2.9% to a two-week high of US$4,115.41 per ounce.
In China, the Shanghai Composite gained 0.5% on Monday to notch a new 10-year closing high of 4,018.6, while the CSI 300 added 0.4% to 4,695.1.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index advanced 1.6% to 26,649.1, though India’s BSE Sensex bucked the trend, slipping 0.4% to close at 83,535.4.
European markets also finished higher overnight, with the FTSE 100 rising 1.1% to a record 9,787.2, the DAX up 1.7% to 23,960.0, and the CAC 40 climbing 1.3% to 8,055.5.
