BANGKOK — Asian shares were higher on Thursday after a broad advance on Wall Street led by technology companies and banks.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index
NIK,
+1.97%

added 2.1%. Toshiba Corp.
6502,
+3.33%

jumped 4% amid reports that Bain Capital may be considering an acquisition proposal as an earlier takeover bid by CVC Capital appears not to be progressing.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng
HSI,
+0.44%

rose 0.5%. In Seoul, the Kospi
180721,
+0.53%

also picked up 0.5%. Sydney’s S&P/ASX 200
XJO,
+0.45%

gained 0.4%, while the Shanghai Composite index
SHCOMP,
-0.05%

was little changed. Shares also rose in Singapore
STI,
+0.82%
,
Taiwan
Y9999,
+0.83%

and Indonesia
JAKIDX,
-0.02%
.

On Wednesday, the S&P 500
SPX,
+0.93%

rose 0.9%, snapping a two-day slide, to close at 4,173.42. The Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
+0.93%

gained 0.9% to 34,137.31. Both the S&P 500 and Dow hit all-time highs on Friday. The technology-heavy Nasdaq
COMP,
+1.19%

added 1.2% to 13,950.22.

Investors are weighing company earnings reports while keeping an eye on bond yields, which eased lower. The yield on the 10-year Treasury slipped to 1.54% from 1.56%.

Much of the market’s focus over the next two weeks will be on individual companies and the outcome of their quarterly results. About 80 members of the S&P 500 are due to report results this week, as well as one out of every three members of the Dow. On average, analysts expect quarterly profits across the S&P 500 to climb 24% from a year earlier, according to FactSet.

“Those companies that meet or beat on revenue and paint a nice picture for the rest of the year are being rewarded,” said J.J. Kinahan, chief strategist with TD Ameritrade. “When a railroad company is saying we really see improvement for the second half of the year, that’s a really good sign.”

Investors are looking to justify the market’s advance this year, despite the lingering pandemic and higher-than-normal unemployment. There are also signs of COVID infections increasing outside the U.S. in major economies such as India and Brazil once again.

In other trading, U.S. benchmark crude oil
CLM21,
-0.46%

shed 50 cents to $60.85 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It lost $1.32 to $61.35 per barrel on Wednesday.

Brent crude
BRNM21,
-0.40%
,
the international standard, declined 46 cents to $64.86 per barrel.

The U.S. dollar
USDJPY,
-0.05%

slipped to 108.00 Japanese yen from 108.08 yen.

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