Stock market today: Asian shares mostly rise as attention turns to earnings, economies

TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares mostly rose Tuesday as markets shift their attention from the U.S. Federal Reserve to earnings and economic reports.

Regional markets also got a perk from signs China-U.S. relations may be improving, as the nations agreed to work together to smooth out economic relations, including business and trade.

“This sounds more like the kind of pragmatic and decisive breakthrough that is required. The proof will be in the pudding and only time will tell, but markets are correct to respond favorably to these developments,” said Clifford Bennett, chief economist at ACY Securities.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said she and her Chinese counterpart agreed Monday to exchange information on U.S. export controls and set up a group to discuss other commercial issues. That signals possible hopes about bilateral communication, but various conflicts remain, including over technology, security and human rights.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 edged up 0.4% in afternoon trading to 32,287.46.

Toyota shares initially dropped after all its auto assembly lines at its plants in Japan, or 28 lines in 14 plants, were shut down over a problem in its computer system that deals with incoming auto parts. But most of the losses were recouped in afternoon trading.

Toyota spokeswoman Sawako Takeda said the company does not think the problem is from a cyberattack, but the cause was still under investigation. It's unclear when the lines would be back up. Toyota declined to specify which models would be affected by the stoppages.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 added 0.5% to 7,197.50. South Korea's Kospi edged up 0.3% to 2,551.54. Hong Kong's Hang Seng jumped 2.0% to 18,498.18, while the Shanghai Composite gained 1.1% to 3,133.55.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 rose 27.60...