us stock indexes rallied as investors reacted positively to a fresh batch of company earnings reports the sp 500 added 28 the techfocused nasdaq composite index gained 31 and the dow jones industrial average rose 24 all three indexes have risen more than 5 from their lows in midjune but remain down sharply for the year johnson  johnson reported a profit and sales that beat expectations but reduced its earnings outlook for the year investors are parsing earnings reports to determine how decadeshigh inflation is affecting corporate profits and consumer spending japanese stocks were broadly higher early in the session led by sharp gains in chip and other electronics stocks as investors keep hoping for an earnings recovery from the covid19 pandemic investors are focusing on results from nidec corp due later in the day and which will kick off the earnings season for the quarter ended june the nikkei stock average was up 17 at 2741659 south koreas benchmark kospi rose 15 to 240677 in early trade tracking wall streets gains overnight tech and financial stocks led the rally foreign and retail investors were net buyers as recession fears eased the markets focus is shifting to a batch of 2q corporate results due out later this week usdkrw was 05 lower at 130700 on renewed risk appetite hong kongs hang seng index rose 16 to 2100054 in morning trade amid ebbing worries of an impending global recession russian gas is expected to start flowing again via the nord stream 1 pipeline as scheduled thursday which eased investors concerns about a possible recession kgi research said in morning commentary recession fears had been heightened by the possibility of moscow shutting off supply through the pipeline the hang seng tech index was up 21 at 459955 china stocks were higher in early trade tracking broad gains among asian equities the benchmark shanghai composite index rose 04 to 329240 the shenzhen composite index gained 03 to 220156 and the chinext price index added 05 to 276215 ongoing concerns over the property market could persist amid protests at several cities and mortgage boycotts over uncompleted realestate projects commerzbank analysts said asian currencies traded sideways versus the us dollar in the morning asian session but may strengthen amid riskon sentiment partly driven by gains in regional equity markets and in us stock futures risk sentiment seems to have been lifted by reports that russias gas flows via the nord stream 1 pipeline to europe will be resumed said spi asset management managing partner stephen innes in an email usdkrw rose 02 to 130869 usdsgd was little changed at 13917 and audusd was steady at 06898 gold prices were little changed after settling modestly higher overnight as the us dollar weakened against major currencies golds inability to hold onto even modest rallies in prices even as the us dollar falls and us bonds trade sideways is a major concern oanda senior market analyst jeffrey halley said in a note it suggests that risks remain heavily skewed towards the downside he added oanda put support for the precious metal at 1700oz and resistance at 1725oz spot gold was recently at 171138oz oil prices fell in asian trade after rising overnight on renewed concerns over tight supply following president bidens vow to take action on climate change energy investors are warming up to the prospect of the chinese government to further strengthen policy support in h2 likely bringing forward future infrastructure projects and funding said stephen innes spi asset management managing partner in a note while chinas monthovermonth demand is slightly better it is still not consuming as much as it was he noted focus is also on the next opec meeting scheduled for aug 3 frontmonth wti crude oil futures fell 04 to 10030bbl and brent was 02 lower at 10711bbl