BEIJING – Asian stock markets were mixed Tuesday after Wall Street was pulled lower by tech stock declines.
Tokyo and Sydney retreated while Shanghai, Hong Kong and Seoul gained. Overnight, Wall Street's benchmark S&P 500 index lost 0.5%.
Banks, energy companies and others that depend on consumer spending also retreated. Investor optimism has been boosted by higher corporate profits, U.S.
hiring and consumer confidence. Still, traders are uneasy about a rise in inflation and interest rates and renewed coronavirus infections that prompted some governments to reimpose anti-disease controls. “Asian markets have experienced short-term volatility as investors balance the impact of higher interest rates with increasing optimism that pent-up