Singapore (Reuters): Asian shares rose on Tuesday, diverging from New York markets that slipped on concern about President Donald Trump's ability to focus on economic policies.
Oil prices were slightly lower amid fears growing US production will offset OPEC cuts. Futures are pointing to a positive open for Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE and France's CAC 40 .FCHI.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS rose 0.6 percent, after inching back in early trade. Japan's Nikkei .N225 closed down 0.2 percent. Australian shares ended up 0.3 percent. They opened soft and moved up on expectations the central bank's policy meeting would leave its interest rate unchanged at 1.5 percent, which it did. The Australian dollar AUD= jumped 0.5 percent to $0.762.
On Monday, US share indexes posted losses of as much as 0.37 percent. Tuesday's reversal in Asian shares "was a little bit surprising," said James Woods, global investment analyst at Rivkin in Sydney. He attributed the changed course partly to views that Trump is now "making progress on his promises," citing movement toward repealing Obamacare.
