Asia shares mostly gained after Wall Street wobbled over strong jobs report

Asia shares were mostly higher Thursday and benchmarks in Japan and South Korea reached new records after Wall Street wobbled following a better-than-expected U.S. job report.

U.S. futures edged higher.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 surpassed the 58,000 mark early in the session as trading resumed after a holiday. By midday, it was up 0.2% at 57,748.81.

Japanese shares have rallied following Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s landslide victory in a parliamentary election on Sunday, as investors expect more policies to help spur economic growth.

South Korea’s Kospi breached the 5,500 mark during Thursday, driven by gains for technology-related stocks. It was up 2.5% at 5,485.71.

Samsung Electronics, South Korea’s biggest listed company, rose 5.9%. Chipmaker SK Hynix was up 3.3%.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.9% to 27,024.06. The Shanghai Composite index edged 0.1% higher, to 4,137.06.