HONG KONG — Asian benchmarks extended gains Tuesday after U.S. stocks clawed back a chunk of their losses from last week, which was the worst for the S&P 500 in more than a year, while the yen weakened further to fresh 34-year lows.Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 edged 0.1% higher to 37,471.73, despite the country’s manufacturing activity contracting for 11 straight months while approaching the break-even point in April as PMI came in at 49.9, according to Tuesday figures from au Jibun bank.
On Monday, the S&P 500 rose 0.9% to 5,010.60 to recover more than a quarter of last week’s rout. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.7% to 38,239.98, and the Nasdaq composite jumped 1.1% to 15,451.31. Bank stocks were also strong following some encouraging profit reports. Truist Financial rallied 3.4% after its profit for the start of the year topped analysts’ expectations., which announced more cuts to prices over the weekend. Elon Musk’s electric vehicle company has seen its stock drop more than 40% already this year, and it will report its first-quarter results later in the day.