Japan's Nikkei 225 rises after another rally on Wall Street

TOKYO — Asian shares were mostly higher Tuesday after another rally to a record high on Wall Street.

Japan s benchmark Nikkei 225 NIK added 1.8%. The advance was helped by a 2% jump in electronics and entertainment Sony Corp. 6758, which is reporting earnings later this week. Sony, which has video game and movie divisions, has seen sales rise as people opted for stay-at-home entertainment during the pandemic.

Hong Kong s Hang Seng HSI fell 0.4% while Shanghai Composite SHCOMP was flat. China has reimposed travel restrictions in some areas to combat outbreaks of the virus that are adding to concerns over a slowing economy.

South Korea s Kospi 180721, edged up 0.6% to 3,037. 21 after the government reported the economy grew at an annual pace of 4%, according to government data. That was slightly weaker than expected. Analysts expect consumer spending to recover as virus cases ease with progress in the country s vaccine rollout.

Australia s S&P ASX 200 XJO gained 0.2%. Stocks slipped in Singapore STI, but gained in Taiwan Y 9999 and Indonesia JAKIDX, Sentiments in Asia may largely mirror the stellar performance in Wall Street overnight, while the COVID - 19 situation in Singapore remains on watch with control measures tightened, said Yeap Jun Rong, market strategist at IG in Taiwan.

On Monday, the S&P 500 SPX rose 0.5% to 4,566. 48, surpassing a record set on Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, also reached an all-time high, gaining 0.2% to 35,741. The Nasdaq composite COMP picked up 0.9%, to 15,226. Stocks have been pushing broadly higher as companies turn in much stronger profit reports for the summer than analysts had expected. Historically low interest rates, along with strong corporate profit growth, have helped the S&P 500 more than double from the bottom it set in March 2020 in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic.

S&P 500 companies have reported profits for the third quarter that were nearly 46% higher than the year-ago levels. That has companies in the index on track to report overall growth of roughly 32.5%, according to FactSet. That compares with expectations for roughly 27% growth when the third quarter closed on Sept. 30.

The yield on the 10 year Treasury ticked up to 1.64% from 1.63% late Monday.

Benchmark U.S. crude CLZ 21, gained 11 cents to $83.87 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It ended trading unchanged on Monday at $83.76 per barrel.

In currency trading, the U.S. dollar USDJPY rose to 113.91 Japanese yen from 113.71 yen.