Shares in Asia were higher on Wednesday, with Japan’s benchmark gaining more than 1% after a quiet finish for U.S. stocks. Most markets in Asia stayed closed for Lunar New Year holidays.
U.S. futures were flat and oil prices edged higher.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 added 1.2% to 57,249.43 by midday as lawmakers prepared to reappoint Sanae Takaichi as prime minister following a landslide victory for her ruling Liberal Democrats in a Feb. 8 election.
Technology companies led the advance, with computer chipmaker Tokyo Electron gaining 3.5%.
However, technology and energy giant SoftBank Group’s shares fell 2%, extending a more than 5% loss on Tuesday, after the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump announced that its subsidiary SB Energy will participate in a $33 billion natural gas facility, said to be the world’s largest, near Portsmouth, Ohio.
That agreement is part of Japan’s commitment of $550 billion in U.S. investments as part of a trade deal that raised tariffs on Japanese exports to the United States by 15%.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.4% at 8,993.20, while India’s Sensex edged 0.1% higher. In Bangkok, the SET advanced 0.5%.
New Zealand’s S&P/NZX 50 lost 0.7%.
On Tuesday, U.S. stocks flipped between gains and losses.
The S&P 500 rose 0.1% to 6,843.22 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.1% to 49,553.19. The Nasdaq composite gained 0.1% to 22,578.38.
Paramount Skydance helped lead the market, gaining 4.9% after Warner Bros. Discovery said it would allow Paramount a chance to give its “best and final” bid to buy the entertainment company. Paramount is trying to top an offer from Netflix.
Warner Bros. Discovery rose 2.7%, and Netflix added 0.2%.
On the losing end of Wall Street was General Mills, which sank 7% after warning that its customers are feeling uneasy. The company behind the Cheerios, Nature Valley and Pillsbury brands cut its forecast for an underlying measure of profit for 2026, saying declines would likely be sharper than it earlier expected.
Several surveys have recently shown weak confidence among U.S. households, which are struggling with inflation that remains higher than anyone would like, a job market coming off a weak year of growth and worries about tariffs.
Drops for some Big Tech stocks were the heaviest weights on the market Tuesday, including a 1.2% fall for Alphabet.
The moves were tentative, though, and Nvidia swung between being one of the market’s heaviest weights and one of its biggest strengths.
Last week, stocks of software and other companies tumbled as investors hunted for companies that could be potential losers if AI ends up remaking the world and their industries.