Asia-Pacific stocks rise as oil jumps about 2%; Reserve Bank of Australia rate decision ahead

SINGAPORE — Shares in Asia-Pacific rose in Tuesday morning trade as investors look ahead to the Reserve Bank of Australia’s latest rate decision.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 gained 0.4% as shares of SoftBank Group and Fanuc climbed more than 1% each.

South Korea’s Kospi edged 0.12% higher. Elsewhere, Australia stocks also rose as the S&P/ASX 200 advanced 0.18%.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan traded 0.11% higher.

The Reserve Bank of Australia is set to announce its latest interest rate decision at 12:30 p.m. HK/SIN on Tuesday.

Ahead of that decision the Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7543, following yesterday’s jump from below $0.75.

Markets in Hong Kong and mainland China are closed on Tuesday for a holiday.

Overnight on Wall Street, the S&P 500 climbed 0.81% to 4,582.64. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 103.61 points, or 0.3%, to 34,921.88. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite outperformed, surging 1.9% to 14,532.55.

Oil prices were higher in the morning of Asia trading hours on Tuesday, with international benchmark Brent crude futures up 1.91% to $109.58 per barrel. U.S. crude futures climbed 1.85% to $105.19 per barrel.

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 98.985 after a recent climb from below 98.6.

The Japanese yen traded at 122.72 per dollar, weaker as compared with levels below 122 seen against the greenback last week.