HONG KONG- Asian shares rose on Tuesday, led by a stronger Chinese opening and shaking off the initial drag from tech-driven Wall Street losses, while the dollar stayed at multiweek lows against other major currencies.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan gained 0.2 percent, swinging into positive territory after Chinese blue chips . rose 0.13 percent. South Korea gained 0.4 percent.
Elsewhere, Japan’s Nikkei dropped 1.84 percent, as the country continues to grapple with a resurgence in COVID cases. Australia slipped 0.33 percent.
Hong Kong fell 0.11 percent although Chinese food delivery giant Meituan’s shares rose 1.59 percent after the company said it had raised a huge $9.98 billion through an equity and convertible bond sale.
Earlier, major Wall Street indexes drew back from record highs hit list week, with a big drag from Tesla Inc.
The electric-car maker slid 3.4 percent after a Tesla vehicle believed to be operating without anyone in the driver’s seat crashed into a tree on Saturday north of Houston, killing two occupants.
“This morning in Asia looks like a continuation of what we saw last night, where tech stocks got hit in the US,” said Mick McCarthy, Chief Markets Strategist, CMC Markets.
McCarthy said that the falls in Japan were striking given the yen strength caused by the falling dollar, which would normally be supportive for Japanese stocks, adding he thought this would change one way or the other later in the day.
