Asian markets jump following Wall Street’s big gains

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, +1.14% jumped 1.6%, with tech stocks leading the way. Sharp 6753, +3.37% , Sony 6758, +2.30% and Panasonic 6752, +1.21% all gained around 2%. SoftBank shares 9984, +1.68% 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, -0.03% was last up about 0.6%, about half its session high, and the Shenzhen Composite 399106, -0.45% was up 0.7%. Markets in Hong Kong were closed for a holiday.

South Korea’s Kospi SEU, +0.88% rose more than 1% behind gains by Samsung 005930, +1.49% which announced it was buying Spanish AI-based network analytics company Zhilabs. Australia’s ASX 200 XJO, +1.13% was lifted by the energy and financial sectors, while New Zealand’s NZX-50 NZ50GR, +1.23% rose almost 1%.

Following another 20-month closing low Tuesday, Singapore’s stock benchmark STI, +1.46% 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, +0.20% rose modestly, as did Taiwan’s Y9999, +0.38%.