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Asian shares lifted by Wall Street rally, China leads gains

Posted February 12, 2018 6:00 am

By YOUKYUNG LEE

A currency trader watches monitors at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2018. Asian markets surged Tuesday following overnight gains on the Wall Street recouping some of the losses from the dreadful global rout but still far from recovering the price levels at the start of the year. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon) The Associated Press

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - Asian shares tracked an overnight rally on Wall Street, with China leading Tuesday's gains.

KEEPING SCORE: Japan's Nikkei 225 jumped 1.0 percent to 21,595.81 and South Korea's Kospi rose 1.5 percent to 2,420.05. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index surged 2.2 percent to 30,108.75 and the Shanghai Composite Index advanced 1.8 percent to 3,212.01. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.6 percent to 5,854.60. Share benchmarks in Southeast Asia and New Zealand were all higher.

ANALYST'S TAKE: A key question is whether the correction has already hit bottom, said Jingyi Pan, a market strategist at IG. "Nevertheless, the worst is likely not over for this week for the simple reason that we have U.S. CPI sitting as a mammoth event risk this week," said Pan, referring to the Wednesday release of U.S. consumer price index data for January.

WALL STREET: U.S. stocks finished higher on Monday. The Standard & Poor's 500, the benchmark for many index funds, gained 1.4 percent to 2,656. The Dow climbed 1.7 percent to 24,601.27 and the Nasdaq composite advanced 1.6 percent to 6,981.96. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks rose 0.9 percent to 1,490.98.

WHERE THINGS STAND: Investors remain wary of turbulence. It took just nine days for stocks to plunge 10 percent from their latest peak, which was reached on Jan. 26. A drop of that size is known on Wall Street as a market "correction." According to LPL Financial, it was the swiftest move from a record high to a correction in the history of the S&P 500. The index rose 1.5 percent Friday but still wound up with its worst weekly loss in more than two years.

OIL: Benchmark U.S. crude rose 40 cents to $59.69 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It gained 9 cents to $59.29 a barrel on Monday. Brent crude, used to price international oils, advanced 43 cents to $63.03 per barrel in London.

CURRENCIES: The dollar rose to 108.68 yen from 108.66 yen. The euro rose to $1.2293 from $1.2289.

FILE- This Oct. 29, 2014, file photo, shows the Wall Street subway stop on Broadway, in New York's Financial District. The U.S. stock market opens at 9:30 a.m. EST on Monday, Feb. 12, 2018. (AP Photo/Richard Drew) The Associated Press

A board above the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange shows the closing number for the Dow Jones industrial average Monday, Feb. 12, 2018. Stocks are surging on Wall Street as the market claws back some of its massive losses from last week. The Dow Jones industrials climbed 400 points. (AP Photo/Richard Drew) The Associated Press

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