BANGKOK (AP) — Shares were higher in Asia on Monday, but most markets were closed for the Lunar Latest Yr holiday, with markets in Shanghai shut for the entire week.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index added 1.1% to 26,852.85 and the S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney edged 0.1% higher, to 7,456.90. The gains followed a rally Friday for tech stocks that countered worries in regards to the weakening U.S. economy.
In other trading, U.S. benchmark crude oil lost 35 cents to $81.29 per barrel in electronic trading on the Latest York Mercantile Exchange. It gained $1.03 to $81.64 per barrel on Friday.
Brent crude, the value benchmark for international trading, gave up 40 cents to $87.23 per barrel.
The U.S. dollar slipped to 129.14 Japanese yen from 129.59 yen. The euro rose to $1.0905 from $1.0868.
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On Friday, the S&P 500 rose 1.9% to three,972.61. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1% to 33,375.49. The Nasdaq added 2.7% to shut at 11,140.43.
Small company stocks also notched solid gains. The Russell 2000 index rose 1.7%, to complete at 1,867.34.
Despite the gains, the benchmark index still ended with its first weekly loss within the last three.
Technology and communication services stocks powered much of the gains as investors cheered one other big quarterly surge in Netflix’s subscribers.
Gains for tech-oriented stocks accounted for a giant share of the S&P 500’s rally Friday. Google’s parent company, Alphabet said it was cutting costs by shedding 12,000 staff. Its shares jumped 5.3%.
Netflix reported a surge in its variety of subscribers and saw its shares leap 8.5%.
The most important indexes began the week within the red largely due to worries that the economy may not give you the chance to avoid a scarring recession. Several reports on the economy have are available weaker than expected, as the total weight of the Federal Reserve’s hikes to rates of interest last yr begin to make their way through the system.
On Friday, Fed Gov. Christopher Waller said he favors only a quarter-point hike on Feb. 1, when the central bank gives its next rate of interest policy update. Waller also said that rates are already high enough to be slowing the economy. The remarks could have helped calm rising-rate worries out there.
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