BUSINESS

Asian shares shrug off Wall St. weakness, dollar steadies

Asian shares rose on Tuesday, shrugging off modest losses on Wall Street, while expectations of another U.S. interest rate increase this year continued to underpin the dollar.

Futures suggested a more subdued start to the European trading day, with the Eurostoxx 50 and Germany’s Dax futures both down 0.1 percent. France’s Cac futures and FTSE futures were both slightly lower.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.6 percent.

Japan’s Nikkei stock index reversed early losses and finished 0.6 percent higher, as markets reopened after a public holiday on Monday.

China stocks retreated from the previous session’s 21-month highs as investors took profits on recent gainers and awaited third-quarter economic data and earnings reports. The bluechip CSI300 index fell 0.3 percent while the Shanghai Composite Index was down 0.1 percent.

China’s Statistics Bureau on Tuesday said that the country will have no problem meeting its economic growth target of around 6.5 percent this year, and may even beat it. Such an outcome had been widely expected after a robust start to the year.

Offshore Chinese yuan surged to its strongest levels in more than two-weeks, after the central bank set a firmer-than-expected official fix on Tuesday. The move suggests that the authorities are trying to stabilize the currency ahead of next week’s key national leadership meeting.

Korean shares rallied 1.6 percent on their first day of trading this month, as tech shares led by Samsung Electronics Co Ltd caught up with gains made by global stock markets after a long break.