Asian shares mixed, oil gains after rally on Wall Street

By YURI KAGEYAMA
AP Business Writer

TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares are trading mixed as worries about the omicron variant of coronavirus tempered optimism set off by a rally on Wall Street. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 jumped in morning trading, as the finance minister and other guests rang a bell to herald the first day of trading for 2022. Among the gainers were Toyota, Sony and SoftBank. Shares rose in Australia but fell in South Korea and China. Wall Street logged record highs, with technology stocks and a mix of retailers and other companies that rely on consumer spending accounting for most of the gains. Apple rose 2.5% and is close to becoming the first company with a market capitalization of $3 trillion.