South Korean shares climbed 4% in early Oct. 21 trading, leading a regional advance following Wall Street gains, while oil prices remained elevated and central bank decisions approached, Reuters reported.
Brent crude rose 1.1% to $110.03 a barrel in the early Asian session. Westpac analysts saw a divide between earnings support for U.S. stocks and the larger burden that oil, borrowing costs and concerns about AI trades placed on markets elsewhere.
In Reuters’ early snapshot, MSCI’s index of Asia-Pacific shares excluding Japan gained 1.5%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 advanced 1.3%. The S&P 500 had gained 0.3% in New York, where corporate results helped lift the Dow.
LSEG said 86% of S&P 500 companies that had released results exceeded earnings estimates. Only 13% of the companies in the index had reported, leaving most of the earnings season ahead.
Asian shares had traded in a narrow range since the previous week’s selloff, Reuters reported.
Japan’s Ministry of Finance reported that the provisional value of exports rose 16.7% in September from a year earlier. The yen weakened 0.1% to ¥158.33 per dollar in the early trading snapshot.
The Federal Reserve is due to announce its next policy decision Oct. 28, followed by the Bank of Japan on Oct. 30.
