Politics, Nasdaq woes sink Asian stocks

Europe’s main markets edged slightly higher Tuesday, with tech shares leading broad-based gains. London’s benchmark FTSE 100 index rose 0.2 percent to 6,356.0, led by asset manager Schroders and utility shares. The blue-chip CAC 40 in Paris climbed 0.9 percent to 6,073.24, led by Dutch-based network service provider Equant and automaker Renault. Frankfurt’s electronically traded Xetra Dax added 0.5 percent to reach 6,640.7, with broad gains from technology to drug shares. Amsterdam’s AEX index rose 0.3 percent, while Zurich’s SMI and Milan’s MIB30 were each 0.2 percent higher. The broader FTSE Eurotop 300 index, a basket of Europe’s largest companies, was up 0.3 percent at 1,601.11. The sub-index for makers of personal care products rose 2.1 percent while the information technology sector gained 1.6 percent. Bruised Asian financial markets were dealt a double blow on Tuesday after more earnings alerts from the United States hit tech stocks and Japan’s deeply unpopular prime minister survived a confidence vote. Yoshiro Mori’s slim victory during the early Tuesday vote knocked Japanese stocks to 20-month lows. Late on Monday night, when it became clear Mori would probably win, the yen hit an eight-and-a-half month low before recovering a little.