Asian stocks rise after Koreas, US make diplomatic overtures


              A man views the electronic stock indicator of a securities firm in Tokyo, Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2017. Asian shares rose Tuesday as both Koreas and the U.S. appeared to indicate a willingness to defuse the crisis over North Korea's nuclear program. A rally on Wall Street, on the back of strong technology shares, also helped. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)
A man views the electronic stock indicator of a securities firm in Tokyo, Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2017. Asian shares rose Tuesday as both Koreas and the U.S. appeared to indicate a willingness to defuse the crisis over North Korea's nuclear program. A rally on Wall Street, on the back of strong technology shares, also helped. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)

TOKYO (AP) - Asian shares rose Tuesday as both Koreas and the U.S. appeared to indicate a willingness to defuse the crisis over Pyongyang's nuclear program. A rally on Wall Street fueled by gains in technology shares also helped.

KEEPING SCORE: Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 gained 1.1 percent to 19,753.31. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 added 0.5 percent to 5,757.50. South Korea's markets were closed for a national holiday. Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 0.3 percent to 27,339.48, while the Shanghai Composite was climbed 0.3 percent to 3,245.66. Shares in Southeast Asia were mostly higher.

NORTH KOREA: North Korea said Tuesday leader Kim Jong Un was briefed on his military's plans to launch missiles into waters near Guam. But the comments also appeared to signal a path to defuse the deepening crisis with Washington, holding out the possibility that friction could ease if the U.S. made some gesture that Pyongyang considered a move to back away from previous "extremely dangerous reckless actions."

WALL STREET: The S&P 500 jumped 1 percent to 2,465.84 and the Dow Jones industrial average advanced 0.6 percent to 21,993.71. The Nasdaq composite added 1.3 percent to 6,340.23.

THE QUOTE: "Investors have once again stepped in, in search of returns, as the tensions surrounding North Korea seemingly dissipated. While the clearance of event risk remains a debate, it certainly does clear the air for other key event to shape market in the latter half of the week," Jingyi Pan of IG said in a commentary.

ENERGY: U.S. crude oil added 2 cents to $47.61 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It lost $1.23 to $47.59 a barrel in New York Monday. Brent crude, the international standard, rose 4 cents to $50.77 a barrel in London.

CURRENCIES: The dollar rose to 110.35 yen from 109.57 yen late Monday in Asia. The euro fell to $1.1743 from $1.1816.

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This story has been corrected to say South Korean markets were closed Tuesday.

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Yuri Kageyama on Twitter at https://twitter.com/yurikageyama

Her work can be found at https://www.apnews.com/search/yuri%20kageyama

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