Asia stocks mixed after Wall St rises on corporate profits

BEIJING (AP) — Asian stock markets were mixed Wednesday after Wall Street rose on strong corporate profit reports.

Tokyo advanced while Shanghai and Hong Kong declined. The yen stayed near a two-decade low under 149 to the dollar. Oil prices gained.

Wall Street's benchmark S&P 500 index rose 1.1% on Tuesday after investment bank Goldman Sachs, military contractor Lockheed Martin and others reported strong results.

Market sentiment is “looking positive so far amid forecast-beating earnings,” said Anderson Alves of ActivTrades in a report.

The profit reports helped at least temporarily offset investor worries that repeated interest rate hikes by U.S., European and Asian central banks to control inflation that is at multi-decade highs might tip the global economy into recession.

That concern has helped to drag U.S. stocks into a bear market, or a decline of more than 20% by the S&P 500 from its January high.

The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo gained 0.4% to 27,257.38, while the Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.7% to 3,060.20. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong lost 2% to 16,576.17.

The Kospi in Seoul declined 0.6% to 2,237.44 and Sydney's S&P-ASX 200 advanced 0.4% to 6,803.80.

India's Sensex opened up 0.7% at 59,357.90. New Zealand and Southeast Asian markets advanced.

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 gained 3,719.98 as 90% of the stocks in the index rose.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.1% to close at 30,523.80. The Nasdaq composite advanced 0.9% to 10,772.40.

With no major economic data releases planned this week, investors focused on corporate earnings.

Goldman Sachs rose 2.3%, which helped to lift other lenders. Lockheed Martin jumped 8.7%, giving other military-related stocks a boost. General Dynamics rose 3.8%, Northrop Grumman gained 6.7% and Raytheon Technologies...