Home ›› 27 Oct 2021 ›› Stock
Stock markets mostly rose on Tuesday following fresh records on Wall Street, with healthy corporate earnings overshadowing concerns about strong inflation.
Progress in Washington on US President Joe Biden's big-spending economic plans also provided support, traders said.
However a fresh coronavirus outbreak in China, where more than four million people have been put into lockdown, revived concerns about the world's number two economy and authorities' zero-Covid policies.
"Strong corporate results are helping with sentiment," noted AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.
Swiss giant UBS was the latest bank to post bumper profits, buoyed by its wealth management division and fees from investment banking.
On Wall Street, the S&P 500 and Dow on Wall Street both ended Monday at new peaks.
Tech firms were lifted as electric car maker Tesla's valuation hit the trillion-dollar mark, ahead of the release of profit reports this week from business titans including Apple, Amazon, Microsoft and Twitter.
Facebook on Monday posted a $9 billion profit in the third quarter.
Tokyo's main stocks index led the gains Tuesday, piling on 1.8 percent by the close, helped also by polls predicting that Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party will likely win a majority in the upcoming general election.
But Hong Kong and Shanghai dropped following news that developer Modern Land had missed a bond payment in the latest sign of stress in China's property sector.
Jeffrey Halley, analyst at trading group Oanda, meanwhile raised concerns about the possible impact of the latest Delta outbreak in China.
Officials put the city of Lanzhou, with a population of four million, under lockdown on Tuesday, with residents told not to leave home except in emergencies.
A risk of lockdowns elsewhere "would complicate an already nightmarish scenario for global supply chains under stress", Halley added.
Developments in Washington were also being closely followed after Biden said he hoped Democrats would strike a deal on two massive spending packages this week.
His party has been haggling for weeks over a social spending bill expected to cost a little less than $2 trillion and an infrastructure bill worth $1.2 trillion.
