SINGAPORE — Stocks in Asia-Pacific were higher in Wednesday morning trade following an overnight bounce on Wall Street as optimism grew over the prospect of more stimulus.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225’s advanced 0.52% while the Topix index rose 0.56%.
Japan’s exports declined 4.2% in November as compared with a year ago, according to Ministry of Finance data released Wednesday. That was far off the 0.5% rise expected by economists in a Reuters poll.
South Korea’s Kospi traded 0.52% higher. Over in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 1.2%.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan traded 0.35% higher.
Investor focus on Wednesday was likely on negotiations ongoing stateside surrounding Covid-19 relief, with the top four congressional leaders meeting Tuesday amid a rush to reach a deal.
Apple supplier shares rise
Shares of Apple suppliers in Asia-Pacific rose in Wednesday morning trade, following a Nikkei report that the Cupertino-based tech giant will increase iPhone production by about 30% in the first half of 2021.
In Japan, Alps Alpine surged 6.91% while Taiyo Yuden gained 1.84%. South Korea’s LG Display edged 1.11% higher.
Elsewhere, Hong Kong-listed shares of China’s largest chipmaker SMIC will be watched after index provider MSCI announced that the firm was among a list of securities set to be deleted from its global investable market indexes.
In central bank developments, the U.S. Federal Reserve is expected to be dovish at the end of its meeting on Wednesday stateside, though it may note a brighter long-term outlook when it releases economic forecasts due to vaccine developments.
Overnight on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 337.76 points to close at 30,199.31. The S&P 500 snapped a four-day losing streak as it rose 1.3% on the day to 3,694.62. The Nasdaq Composite jumped 1.3% to 12,595.06 — a new record closing high.
Currencies
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was last at 90.473 after seeing levels above 90.6 earlier in the week.
The Japanese yen traded at 103.63 per dollar, having seen levels around 104.1 against the greenback yesterday. The Australian dollar was at $0.7553 after trading at levels around $0.751 yesterday.
Source: CNBC