Stock market today: Asian shares mostly rise, cheered by another Wall
Street rally
[March 18, 2025] By
YURI KAGEYAMA
TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares mostly rose Tuesday as investors were
encouraged by another rally on Wall Street.
Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 gained 1.2% to finish at 37,845.42.
The Bank of Japan was expected to keep its benchmark interest rate
unchanged at a monetary policy board meeting due to wrap up Wednesday.
The U.S. Federal Reserve also is due to announce its latest decision on
interest rates Wednesday.
Shares in major Japanese trading companies rose after Warren Buffett’s
Berkshire Hathaway reported increases in its ownership of those
companies. Itochu Corp. rose 2.5%, Marubeni Corp. added 3.5%, and
Mitsubishi Corp. gained 3.6%, while Mitsui & Co. shares were up 3.1%.
The investments, although still under 10% in each company, are seen as
an expression of confidence in the Japanese economy.
Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng jumped 2.2% to 24,670.80, led
by buying of tech-related stocks. The Shanghai Composite inched up 0.1%
to 3,431.06.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose nearly 0.1% to 7,860.40. South Korea's
Kospi inched up less than 0.1% to 2,612.34.
Trading on Indonesia stock exchange was suspended temporarily as the
benchmark JSX tumbled as much as 6%. But it bounced back a bit, falling
3.5%. Investors have been selling shares in state-owned banks after the
government launched a sovereign wealth fund, called Danantara, that so
far has not proven popular. Worries over U.S. President Donald Trumps
tariff increases and other risks have also shaken confidence in the
economy, said Budi Frensidy, a professor at the University of Indonesia.
On Wall Street, stocks climbed again on Monday as the wild
roller-coaster ride veered upward.
The S&P 500 rose 0.6% to 5,675.12, for a second straight gain after it
fell 10% below its record late last week. The Dow Jones Industrial
Average climbed 0.9% to 41,841.63, and the Nasdaq composite added 0.3%
to 17,808.66.
On Wall Street, Intel climbed 6.8% to extend its gains after the chip
company named former board member and semiconductor industry veteran
Lip-Bu Tan as its CEO last week.
PepsiCo added 1.9% after saying it had agreed to buy Poppi, a prebiotic
soda brand, for a net $1.65 billion.
[to top of second column] |
Currency traders work near a screen showing the Korea Composite
Stock Price Index (KOSPI) at the foreign exchange dealing room of
the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, March
18, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
 They helped offset a 4.8% drop for
Tesla. The electric-vehicle company’s stock has been struggling this
year amid worries that its brand has become too intertwined with
Elon Musk, who has been leading efforts to cut spending by the U.S.
government. Tesla vehicles and dealerships have become targets of
people unhappy with Trump and his policies.
Stocks have been mostly tumbling on worries that Trump’s rat -a- tat
announcements on tariffs and other policies are creating so much
uncertainty that they’ll push U.S. households and businesses to
freeze their spending, which would hurt the economy. Surveys have
shown sharp drops in confidence, and some companies are already
warning about changes in behavior from their customers.
A report Monday said U.S. retailers broadly saw weaker revenue last
month than economists expected. But that mainly was due to
weaker-than-forecast sales of automobiles and lower fuel costs.
The U.S. economy closed last year running at a solid rate.
Excitement at the time was also building about policies coming from
Trump to accelerate growth. Hiring still remains relatively healthy,
and that could help keep the economy growing, but talk of a
recession alone can undermine confidence.
Virtually no one expects the Fed to make a move Wednesday. The
central bank has been keeping rates steady so far this year,
preferring to see how conditions play out. Late last year it was
cutting rates sharply in hopes of relaxing pressure on the U.S.
economy after high inflation had slowed.
In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude added 35 cents to $67.93 a
barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, rose 38 cents to
$71.45 a barrel.
In currency trading, the U.S. dollar edged up to 149.74 Japanese yen
from 149.21 yen. The euro stood unchanged at $1.0922.
___
AP writer Niniek Karmini in Jakarta contributed to this report.
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