Asia shares gain, trading closed in Korea, China for holiday

By YURI KAGEYAMA
AP Business Writer

TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares have advanced, mirroring broad overnight gains on Wall Street. Trading in China and most other regional markets was closed for Lunar New Year holidays. Benchmarks in Japan and Australia rose after Wall Street closed a tumultuous January wracked by worries that interest-rate hikes will make everything in markets more challenging. Shares closed higher but still logged their worst monthly loss since the early days of the pandemic. Investors expect the Federal Reserve to begin raising interest rates in March to fight inflation. Ultra-low rates and other stimulus have helped markets recover from the initial shock of the coronavirus pandemic, and then supported stunning gains until recently.