Asian stocks close higher despite lingering trade war concerns

Most Southeast Asian stock markets closed higher Tuesday, drawing confidence from gains on Wall Street, with the Philippines and Indonesia climbing more than 1 percent.

The stocks recovered following some earlier losses on Tuesday, as trade concerns continued to linger ahead of the G-7 meeting later this week.

The recovery was recorded with major indexes in the region at the close of business amid improved investor sentiment while energy stocks in the region traded lower after oil settled 2 percent lower in the last session.

Wall Street’s three major indexes rose overnight, led by a rally in tech stocks, pushing the Nasdaq to a record closing high.

Asian shares outside Japan held largely steady after surging 1.4 percent in the previous session.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed higher by 0.28 percent as technology names and retailers edged up. Those gains were, however, offset by losses in financials and oil companies.

In another part of Asia, South Korea’s benchmark Kospi erased earlier losses to go up 0.25 percent on Tuesday, with gains seen in the tech and manufacturing sectors.

The S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.51 percent. Major sectors were down, including financials, oil producers, and mining companies.

Philippine shares closed 1.4 percent higher, reversing earlier losses, with heavyweight SM Investments Corp gaining 3.8 percent.

The country’s annual inflation quickened in May but at a slower-than-expected pace, the country’s statistics agency said on Tuesday.

Indonesian shares extended gains to close 1.2 percent higher, led by materials and telecom stocks.

Telekom Indonesia closed 5.2 percent higher, while Indah Kiat Pulp & Paper hit an all-time high.

Greater China markets edged higher, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index up by 0.17 percent at 3:40 p.m. HK/SIN as developers and technology stocks moved higher on the whole. However, it was weighed down by declines across the gaming sector. On the mainland, the Shanghai composite rose 0.75 percent.

MSCI’s broad index of shares in Asia Pacific excluding Japan was flat for the most part, last trading higher by 0.03 percent.

The lukewarm moves came on the back of gains seen stateside on Monday, with the Nasdaq composite posting a record close — its first since March 12. The index rose 0.69 percent as technology names advanced, with Apple and Amazon notching record closing highs.

Other major stock indexes also recorded gains, with the Dow Jones industrial average rising 0.72 percent, or 178.48 points, to close at 24,813.69. Those gains followed the release of expectation-surpassing U.S. jobs numbers on Friday.

Meanwhile, investors continued to keep an eye on lingering trade concerns after the U.S. imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from the European Union, Canada and Mexico while coming away with no major breakthroughs from the most recent round of trade talks with China.