Asia-Pacific markets open higher after Wall Street gains as investors assess trade climate

Asia-Pacific markets opened higher after Wall Street gained for a third straight day as tech stocks rallied, with investors assessing the trade climate as the U.S. tones down tariff rhetoric.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 0.91% and the Topix added 0.88% in the open. South Korea’s Kospi climbed 1.03% while the small-cap Kosdaq rose 0.6% as South Korea reportedly inches closer to striking a trade deal with the U.S.

Futures for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index stood at 22,158, higher than HSI’s last close of 21,909.76.

Australian markets are closed for a holiday.

Futures linked to the S&P 500 were 0.3% higher, whileNasdaq-100 futuresgained 0.4%.Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Averagehovered around the flatline.

Overnight stateside,the three major averages closed higher thanks to strong gains in megacap tech names, as investors continued to look for signs of progress on the global trade front.

TheS&P 500ended up 2.03% at 5,484.77, while the tech-heavyNasdaq Compositeadded 2.74% to finish at 17,166.04. TheDow Jones Industrial Averagelagged the other two indexes, weigheddownby a 6.6% drop inIBM, but stilladded486.83 points, or 1.23%, at 40,093.40.

Shares ofNvidia,Meta,Amazon,TeslaandMicrosoftall closed higher, propelling the major averages to their third day of gains in a row

“Investors are becoming more comfortable with the uncertainties of tariffs as earnings roll in,” said Louis Navellier, chairman and founder of Navellier & Associates. “The market seems to be positioningitself for a near-term reduction in the current sky-high China tariffs,” he added.

— CNBC’s Lisa Kailai Han and Pia Singh contributed to this report.