Asian shares mostly rise and Tokyo hits a record, tracking fresh highs on Wall Street
Jan 12, 2026, 8:44 PM | Updated: Jan 13, 2026, 5:20 am
HONG KONG (AP) — Asian shares were mostly higher Tuesday, led by a rally in Japan after Wall Street hit more records. U.S. futures edged lower and oil prices gained.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 surged 3.1% to an intraday record of 53,814.79 as trading resumed after a holiday. Technology-related stocks helped lift the benchmark. Compute chip testing equipment maker Advantest surged 8.5%. Chip maker Tokyo Electron jumped 8.3% and SoftBank Group rose 4.3%.
Investors are also closely monitoring the prospects for a possible snap election. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is expected to opt for an early election to help strengthen her policy mandate for higher government spending.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng advanced 1% to 26,877.01. Shares of China-based chip designer GigaDevice Semiconductor jumped 54% in early trading in the company’s Hong Kong trading debut. The Shanghai Composite index fell less than 0.1% to 4,163.84.
South Korea’s Kospi traded 0.6% higher to 4,651.67, also breaching fresh intraday records.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.8% to 8,830.60. Taiwan’s Taiex rose 0.5%, while the Sensex in India lost 0.3%.
On Wall Street, concern over the potential consequences of a weakening of the Federal Reserve’s independence in setting interest rates appeared to be offset by investors’ expectations that President Donald Trump may prevail in pushing the central bank to cut rates at a faster pace. Lower interest rates mean cheap credit and tend to fuel stronger stock prices.
Tensions between Trump and Fed Chair Jerome Powell escalated after the Department of Justice subpoenaed the Fed and threatened a criminal indictment over Powell’s testimony regarding building renovations at the central bank’s headquarters.
On Monday, the S&P 500 gained almost 0.2% to 6,977.27 to a new record. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also edged up 0.2%, to 49,590.20, for its own record. The Nasdaq composite rose 0.3% to 23,733.90.
Trump has repeatedly called for the Fed to further lower interest rates and reduce borrowing costs for households and companies, even as the Fed did cut rates three times in 2025. The White House said Monday that Trump did not direct his Justice Department to investigate Powell.
Alphabet, Google’s parent, gained 1%, taking its market value to more than $4 trillion, after Apple said it would use Google’s Gemini to help smarten up virtual assistant Siri in a new deal.
Credit card companies led losses after Trump said he wanted a one-year, 10% cap on credit card interest rates, which could eat into the profits of these companies. Synchrony Financial dipped 8.4%, Capital One Financial fell 6.4% and American Express edged down 4.3%.
In other dealings early Tuesday, the price of gold dipped 0.2% and the price of silver rose 0.8%.
The dollar rose to 158.72 yen, up from 158.07 yen. It has been trading near its highest level in a year.
The euro slipped to $1.1666, down from $1.1667.
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AP Business Writer Stan Choe contributed.
