Asia-Pacific markets were mostly up on Tuesday, led by gains in Chinese property stocks.
Chinese property shares surged after Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter, that Chinese regulators are drafting a list of 50 developers eligible for a range of financing, including China Vanke and Longfor Group Holdings.
Asian chip names also climbed as Microsoft shares gained 2%, reaching a new 52-week high, after CEO Satya Nadella said former OpenAI chief Sam Altman will join the tech giant to lead a new AI research team.
Chipmaker Nvidia also added 2.3%, closing at an all-time high for the stock ahead of its earnings report Tuesday.
Taiwan’s main stock index, housing some of Asia’s biggest chipmakers and suppliers, closed up 1.20% at 17,416.70.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index closed down 0.3% at 17,724.78, paring most of its gains from earlier in the session, while the Hang Seng Tech index erased all its gains to drop 0.87%. Mainland Chinese markets rose 0.13%, closing at 3,581.07.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 extended gains from Monday, climbing 0.28% and closing at 7,078.2.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed 0.10% lower at 33,354.14, down for the second straight day. The Topix slid 0.20% to 2,367.79.
South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.77% to end at 2,510.42, while the small-cap Kosdaq gained 0.48% at 817.01.
Overnight in the U.S., all three major indexes posted gains, with the the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite recording a fifth consecutive day of gains.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq led gains, rising 1.13%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.58% and the S&P 500 added 0.74%.
