Market Update
Shares in Asia ended higher Wednesday, as Japanese equities climbed over 5% as the market recouped some of the losses of the recent correction in the aftermath of last week's earthquake and tsunami and the resulting nuclear-leak concerns arising from the disaster.
At close, the Japanese Nikkei gained 5.7%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng, mainland China's Shanghai Composite, India's Sensex and Australia's ASX rose 0.7% to 1.2%.
Japanese stocks bounced back as investors looked beyond nuclear radiation from a crippled power plant a few hundred kilometers from Tokyo--and which had been threatening to spiral into a nuclear disaster--and bought beaten-down stocks.
The Bank of Japan started a fresh round of liquidity-easing measures, offering as much as 3.5 trillion yen in same-day funds Wednesday in a bid to soothe financial markets, and helping to arrest the yen's gain against the peers, while several analysts said Japan would be able to tide over the crisis economically.
Stocks on the Move
In Tokyo, a broad-based rally took place as stocks regained some of the prior two days' losses--when the index fell 6.1% and 10.1%, respectively.
Hitachi rose 16.5% while in export-focused stocks, technology giant Sony added 8.8% while auto major Toyota climbed 9.1%.
Shares in Hong Kong and China joined the global rally, with oil and coal plays leading the gainers.
China Coal Energy advanced 2.7% in Shanghai, while Yanzhou Coal Mining was up 4.2%.
Indian stocks, too, rose ahead of a monetary-policy meeting by the Reserve Bank of India later this week.
Banks and metals were the biggest gainers: State Bank of India and ICICI Bank rose over 3% each while state-run miner NMDC was up 2.8%.
While in Sydney, uranium-mining company Paladin Energy surged 13.5% after a 23% loss in the past three days.
Heavyweight miners BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto climbed 1.4% and 2%, respectively.