Asian stock markets were sharply higher in early trading Wednesday, following even-bigger increases Tuesday on Wall Street. Gains of at or just above 1% have been logged in Japan, Australia, South Korea and New Zealand as global equities continue to cut into last week’s slump.
Japan’s Nikkei
NIK, +1.59%
jumped 1.6%, with tech stocks leading the way. Sharp
6753, +4.03%
, Sony
6758, +2.88%
and Panasonic
6752, +1.78%
all gained around 2%. SoftBank shares
9984, +2.88%
rose 3% after Chief Operating Officer Marcelo Claure said Tuesday it was “business as usual” following concerns about the company’s ties to Saudi Arabia in the wake of the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which triggered a selloff Monday. SoftBank is “anxiously looking at what is happening” with the situation, he said, according to Reuters.
After fresh multiyear lows yesterday and smaller-cap stocks logging declines of more than 2%, Chinese equities joined others in the region with gains of nearly 1%. The Shanghai Composite
SHCOMP, -0.07%
was last up about 0.6%, about half its session high, and the Shenzhen Composite
399106, -0.52%
was up 0.7%. Markets in Hong Kong were closed for a holiday.
South Korea’s Kospi
SEU, +1.25%
rose more than 1% behind gains by Samsung
005930, +1.72%
which announced it was buying Spanish AI-based network analytics company Zhilabs. Australia’s ASX 200
XJO, +1.06%
was lifted by the energy and financial sectors, while New Zealand’s NZX-50
NZ50GR, +1.03%
rose almost 1%.
Following another 20-month closing low Tuesday, Singapore’s stock benchmark
STI, +1.67%
jumped 1.3%, with all 30 components higher. Bank stocks have gained some 2% as the index looks to rise for just the third day this month. Malaysia’s stock index
FBMKLCI, +0.26%
rose modestly, as did Taiwan’s
Y9999, +0.85%
.
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Source : MTV
