The Nikkei 225 gained 0.26%, the Topix index was up 0.27%, Kospi added 0.49%, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.72%, while MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan advanced 0.87%
Stock market Asia was higher on Wednesday following an overnight bounce on Wall Street as optimism grew over the prospect of more stimulus.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 advanced 0.26% to close at 26,757.40 while the Topix index rose 0.27% to end its trading day at 1,786.83.
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 0.49% higher. Over in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.72%.
Mainland Chinese stocks bucked the overall trend as they dipped on the day, with the Shanghai composite fractionally lower at 3,366.98 while the Shenzhen component declined slightly to 13,751.09. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 0.97% to close at 26,460.29.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.87%.
Elsewhere, shares of Apple suppliers in Asia-Pacific were higher, 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 7.14% while Sharp gained 3.02%.
Over in Taiwan, shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company gained 1.59% and Largan Precision jumped 3.1%. In mainland China, Luxshare saw its stock rise about 4%. Hong Kong-listed shares of AAC Technologies soared 3.02%.
Hong Kong-listed shares of China’s largest chipmaker SMIC plunged 4.94% on Wednesday. The company’s Shanghai-listed shares fell about 5.5%.
Index provider MSCI earlier announced that SMIC’s Hong Kong-listed stock was among a list of securities set to be deleted from its global investable market indexes.
SMIC also said Wednesday that its board was aware that co-CEO Mong-song Liang intends to resign, according to a filing to the Shanghai stock exchange.
