Australian Market

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 benchmark index closed 0.4% higher, gaining for a fifth straight session. The beaten-down tech sector again led gains, adding 1.3% as it continued to claw back some of 2022’s heavy losses.

US Market 

U.S. stock indexes finished mixed as a series of major companies reported earnings. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.3%, the S&P 500 fell 0.1%, and the Nasdaq Composite Index was down 0.3%. Earnings season is in full swing, with blue-chip companies such as General Electric, Johnson & Johnson, Danaher, and 3M all reporting ahead of the opening bell. “The biggest thing this week would be earnings,” said John Roe, head of multiasset funds at Legal & General Investment Management.

Commodities

Gold prices ended at a fresh nine-month high as expectations for smaller U.S. interest-rate increases helped bolster the yellow metal while weighing on the dollar. February gold rose nearly 0.4% to settle at $1,935.40 per ounce on Comex, marking the highest finish for a most-active contract since April 21, FactSet data show.

Oil Futures

Oil futures finished lower, pulling back from recent gains that lifted prices to their highest level in two months, with weakness in the U.S. economy prompting traders to rethink their energy demand expectations. West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery fell 1.8%, to settle at $80.13 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

March Brent crude, the global benchmark, lost 2.3% to $86.13 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe. Oil prices declined on “uncertainty about how much of a demand boost we’ll see, and concerns over (how) a weakening U.S. economy constrains the upside,” said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets U.K.

Forex

Major currencies were mixed against the US dollar in European and US trade. The Euro fell from near US$1.0895 to US$$1.0840 and was near US$1.0880 in late US trade. The Aussie dollar lifted from near US69.95 cents to near US70.55 cents and was around US70.45 cents in late US trade. And the Japanese yen eased from 129.75 yen per US dollar to JPY131.07 and was near JPY130.15 in late US trade.

European Markets

European sharemarkets fell on Tuesday. The euro-zone composite purchasing managers index surprisingly rose from 49.3 to 50.2 in January. Traders fear that the European Central Bank may have more scope to lift rates in response to a strongerthan-expected economy. Energy and Healthcare sectors fell by 1.3%. Reuters report that shares in Swatch Group rose 5.1% after the world’s biggest watchmaker said it expected a recovery in luxury demand from China. The continent-wide FTSEurofirst 300 index fell by 0.3%. The UK FTSE 100 index fell by 0.4%.

Asian Markets

Earlier, in Asia, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average closed 1.5% higher, led by gains in technology and electronics shares, as an easing of the yen’s recent strength brightened the earnings outlook. Mainland Chinese markets are closed all week for Lunar New Year.