Asian stocks follow Wall St higher at start of holiday week

By JOE McDONALD
AP Business Writer

BEIJING (AP) — Asian stocks have followed Wall Street higher at the start of a week when China, South Korea and Southeast Asian markets will close for the Lunar New Year holiday. Benchmarks in Tokyo and Hong Kong advanced while Sydney declined. Markets in mainland China, South Korea and Taiwan were closed. Hong Kong and Southeast Asia were due to close later in the week. On Friday, Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index rose 2.4%, breaking a three-week losing streak and giving major indexes their biggest gains this year. Investors have been rattled by the Federal Reserve’s decision to try to cool inflation by accelerating plans to raise interest rates and wind down bond purchases and other economic stimulus.