Asia stocks mixed after Wall St falls on Biden tax report

BEIJING (AP) — Asian stock markets were mixed Friday after Wall Street fell following a report that President Joe Biden will propose raising taxes on the wealthiest investors.

Shanghai, Hong Kong and Seoul rose while Tokyo and Sydney retreated.

Wall Street's benchmark S&P 500 index lost 0.9% overnight after Bloomberg News, citing unidentified sources, said Biden will propose raising taxes on people who make more than $1 million on stock trades.

That added to a mix of better corporate profits and U.S. hiring, unease that inflation and interest rates might rise and renewed coronavirus infections that have prompted some governments to tighten anti-disease controls.

Investors are struggling “to navigate through a very muddled global outlook" and earnings reports that have "priced in a slow return to pre-pandemic life,” said Edward Moya of Oanda in a report.

The Shanghai Composite Index rose less than 0.1% to 3,466.68 while the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo lost 0.8% to 28,960.35. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong gained 0.9% to 29,014.32.

The Kospi in Seoul advanced 0.2% to 3,183.58 while Sydney's S&P-ASX 200 shed 0.1% to 7,045.60.

India's Sensex opened up less than 0.1% at 48,096.32. New Zealand and Jakarta rose while Singapore and Bangkok retreated.

Selling on Wall Street was widespread following the report about Biden's tax plan.

According to Bloomberg, it would raise the capital gains tax to 39.6% for investors who make more than $1 million, or more than double the current rate for Americans in that income bracket. It said a separate surtax on investment income could boost the total tax rate for wealthy investors as high as 43.3%.

Technology stocks, banks and companies that rely on consumer spending accounted for much of the skid. Treasury yields held mostly steady.

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