Asian stocks mixed after Wall St rally ahead of US debate

Asian stocks were mixed Tuesday after Wall Street recovered some of this month's losses as investors looked ahead to a debate between President Donald Trump and his challenger in the November election, Joe Biden.

Shanghai, Seoul and Tokyo advanced Hong Kong and Sydney declined.

Overnight, Wall Street's benchmark S&P 500 index gained 1.6%, led by big tech stocks.

“This is welcome cheer, but does not redeem equities from a negative September,” said Mizuho Bank in a report. With no obvious catalyst, its analysts questioned whether the rise was driven by little more than “month-end short-covering,” or traders buying stocks to fulfill commitments to re-sell them.

The Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.3% to 3,231.89 while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong retreated 0.5% to 23,348.01.

The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo edged 0.1% higher to 23,539.10. The Kospi in Seoul advanced 0.8% to 2,326.41 and Sydney's S&P-ASX 200 was off 0.2% at 5,941.20.

India's Sensex opened down 0.3% at 37,885.55. New Zealand and Bangkok declined while Singapore and Jakarta gained.

Shares in Japanese telecoms giant NTT Corp. fell 2.7% after reports said it plans to take over its mobile phone carrier NTT DoCoMo and take it private. DoCoMo said it would announce news after a board meeting Tuesday.

Tech stocks led an earlier rebound in global share prices, but investors began to worry they were overpriced, leading to a new sell-off.

Investors confidence has been supported by infusions of central bank credit into struggling economies and hopes for development of a coronavirus vaccine.

However, the U.S. Congress still is arguing over the size of a new support package after additional unemployment benefits that helped to support consumer spending that powers the biggest global economy expired.

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