TOKYO (AP) — Global shares were mostly higher Tuesday and Japan’s benchmark inched up just a few points to a new record.
France’s CAC 40 edged 0.1% higher, to 7,978.27, as investors snapped up bargains following losses a day earlier after its prime minister abruptly resigned on Monday.
The resignation was the fourth in more than a year of almost ceaseless political upheaval for French President Emmanuel Macron 's government.
Germany’s DAX fell less than
0.1% to 24,369.34. Britain’s FTSE 100 was nearly unchanged at 9,478.51.
Many Asian markets were closed for holidays on Tuesday, including those in mainland China and Hong Kong. In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 rose just 6 points to 47,950.88 giving up nearly all of its earlier gains after jumping almost 5% to a record close on Monday.
Investors piled in after Japan’s ruling party chose conservative Sanae Takaichi as its leader, virtually ensuring she will become the country’s first female prime minister.
Takaichi, an admirer of the late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, is expected to push for market-boosting policies similar to those he championed.
But the ruling Liberal Democrats need coalition partners to stay in power, and it’s unclear how aggressively Takaichi can push her agenda to boost Japan out of its economic doldrums while facing resistance from within her own party as well as the opposition.
Elsewhere in the region, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.3% to 8,956.80.
Taiwan's benchmark jumped 1.7%, helped by heavy buying of AI-related shares, while India's Sensex added 0.3%. Shares in most Southeast Asian markets also climbed.
On Monday. Wall Street kept setting more records, buoyed by enthusiasm over artificial-intelligence.
The S&P 500 climbed 0.4% to set an all-time high, closing at 6,740.28. The Dow Jones Industrial Average 0.1% to 46,694.97, while the Nasdaq composite rose 0.7% to its own record, ending at 22,941.67.
The frenzy around AI is a key reason Wall Street has been hitting record after record, though that’s also raising worries that prices have potentially shot too high. Much of the furor around AI in the last couple weeks has come from OpenAI, which has quickly grown into a $500 billion company. It’s been announcing deals with businesses around the world to develop more AI infrastructure.
Another chip company, Nvidia, announced a deal last month where it would invest $100 billion in OpenAI as part of a partnership, creating criticism that the AI investment pipeline was beginning to appear like a circle. It’s the most valuable stock on Wall Street.
In other dealings early Tuesday, benchmark U.S. crude fell 24 cents to $61.45 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, slipped 22 cents to $65.25 a barrel.
The U.S. dollar climbed to 150.78 Japanese yen from 150.35 yen. The euro cost $1.1664, down from $1.1714.
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Yuri Kageyama is on Threads: https://www.threads.com/@yurikageyama
