Yahoo Finance Asian Equities Rise Amid Encouraging U.S. Earnings Season
Investing.com – Asian equities traded mostly higher on Wednesday, as U.S. stocks rose a second day after more index heavyweights reported better-than-expected earnings.
Overnight, the S&P 500 jumped 1.1%, the Dow gained 0.9% and the Nasdaq was up 1.7%.
Reports that the U.S. and North Korea have already started direct talks at “extremely high levels” garnered some attention as the two nations prepared in advance of a planned meeting this summer.
Meanwhile, Beijing promised foreign car makers such as Ford Motor (NYSE:F) Co. more freedom to compete in China.
Chinese stocks rebounded after a surprise move by the People’s Bank of China to cut the reserve requirement ratio for local banks. The Shanghai Composite and the SZSE Component were up 0.3% and 0.6% respectively by 9:47PM ET (01:47 GMT).
Meanwhile, Japan's Nikkei 225 jumped 1.3% after data on Wednesday showed the country’s trade balance remained in surplus in March and amounted to 797.3 billion yen versus the estimated 498.3 billion yen. Exports rose 2.1% from a year earlier, while imports fell 0.6%
Hong Kong-listed smartphone maker ZTE Corp (HK:0763)'s made headlines again as the U.S. Commerce Department banned American firms from selling parts and software to ZTE for seven years, potentially cutting ZTE’s sales. The supply ban might also mean it may not be able to use Android software in its devices, multiple sources revealed on Wednesday.
The news followed reports that ZTE violated an agreement that was reached after it was caught illegally shipping U.S. goods to Iran. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index climbed 0.9% in morning trade.
Elsewhere, South Korea’s KOSPI traded 1.2% higher, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 edged up 0.4% as a decline in the financial stocks was offset by gains seen in materials and energy. Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) rose as much as 1.7% after the company reported better-than-expected first quarter production numbers.
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