Asian share markets were firmer on Tuesday following Wall Street's record highs on its first trading day of 2022, despite worries of Omicron spread.

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MSCI's gauge of Asia Pacific stocks outside Japan was up 0.67 percent in the morning sessions. Japan's Nikkei 225 gained 1.25 percent.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 surged 1.15 percent, boosted by energy and mining stocks.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index and China's benchmark CSI300 Index opened up 0.5 percent and 0.25 percent, respectively.

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Major Wall Street indices closed record highs on Monday, even as the Omicron variant of the coronavirus pushed COVID-19 cases to fresh peaks.

"Markets are focusing more on the likely positive earnings numbers from U.S. in the fourth quarter. We are firmly of the view the U.S. is seeing boom conditions and a very tight labour market which will boost household incomes," Reuters quoted as saying John Milroy, an Ord Minnett advisor in Sydney.

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"...investors are keeping a close watch on inflation and how the Fed may respond if it proves to be other than transitory," he said.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.68 percent, the S&P 500 gained 0.64 percent and the Nasdaq Composite added 1.2 percent.

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Apple Inc on Monday became the first company to reach a $3 trillion stock market value while Tesla Inc, rose more than 13.5 percent after reporting stronger-than-expected quarterly deliveries of its electric cars.

The S&P index surged nearly 28 percent last year, driving MSCI's 50-country index of world stocks to its third consecutive year of double-digit gains.

The benchmark US 10-year yields hit a six-week high to yield 1.6384 percent, with investors expecting a series of interest rate raises this year to combat rising inflation.

The commodity markets were also quickly back in the swing of things after their nearly two-year resurgence to close out 2021.

Brent oil rose 0.57 percent to nearly $79.43 a barrel Tuesday, building on Monday's gains, which were supported by tight supply and hopes of a further demand recovery in 2022, despite OPEC+ expected to further increase output. US crude was up 0.34 percent to $76.34 a barrel.

Gold prices rebounded after falling more than 1 percent on Monday as a risk-on rally in equities pressured bullion. Spot gold gained 0.14 percent to $1803.3 an ounce Tuesday morning.

-With agency inputs

(Edited by : Bivekananda Biswas)

First Published:Jan 4, 2022 8:27 AM IST