SEOUL, South Korea—Asian shares advanced Thursday as investors cheered the Dow Jones industrial average’s first ever close above the 20,000 milestone.
Keeping Score
Japan’s Nikkei 225 surged 1.6 percent to 19,368.40 and South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.9 percent to 2,086.37. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index advanced 1.4 percent to 23,365.01. The Shanghai Composite index rose 0.1 percent to 3,153.77 and benchmarks in Southeast Asia were also higher. Australian and Indian markets are closed for holidays.
Analyst’s Take
“Asian markets are slated for higher prices in the day with the jubilance from Wall Street and ahead of the Chinese New Year holidays,” said Jingyi Pan, a market strategist at IG in Singapore. “Into the end of the week, Asian markets excluding Japan have been showing substantial resilience.”
