Asian stocks rose on Tuesday, following Wall Street’s gains, ahead of another round of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine.
Crude oil prices continued to fall after falling 7% on Monday.
As the fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues to play out, investors are trying to figure out what’s next for inflation and the global economy.
In what is becoming a back-and-forth stalemate on the ground, Ukrainian forces claimed to have retaken a Kyiv suburb and an eastern town from Russian forces, as mediators gathered in Turkey for another round of negotiations aimed at ending the war on Tuesday.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine said his country may declare neutrality to keep the peace, but that safeguarding its sovereignty and territory would come first.
The Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo gained 0.6 percent to 28,110.73, while the Kospi in Seoul gained 0.3 percent to 2,737.05. As the city began its second day of a lockdown to address a COVID-19 outbreak, the Hang Seng in Hong Kong rose 0.6 percent to 21,826.68, while the Shanghai Composite index fell 0.2 percent to 3,207.64.
The S&P/ASX 200 index in Australia rose 0.7 percent to 7,467.20. Before submitting a budget proposal on Tuesday, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg stated that the government intends to raise expenditure on national security while lowering household prices, in part by lowering a gasoline tax.
Weaker oil prices, according to IG’s Yeap Jun Rong, helped propel shares higher.
“Because China, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan are big oil importers, reduced oil prices might be seen as beneficial to their economies,” Yeap wrote in a commentary.
In computerized trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, U.S. crude oil fell 71 cents to $105.21 a barrel. It dropped 7% on Monday, while Brent crude, the international benchmark, plummeted 6.8%.