HONG KONG (AP) — A rally in China led global stocks higher on Wednesday on hopes the country’s financial markets would be opened further. Germany’s index, however, was held back by a drop in Volkswagen shares.
KEEPING SCORE: In morning trade, France’s CAC 40 was up 1.1 percent to 4,989.64 and Britain’s FTSE 100 gained 1 percent to 6,445.72.
Germany’s DAX rose by a weaker 0.3 percent to 10,987.82, with shares in Volkswagen down 9.7 percent after the carmaker said 800,000 of its vehicles also emitted too much carbon dioxide, widening the company’s emissions scandal.
U.S. stocks were poised to open higher. Dow futures rose 0.2 percent and broader S&P 500 futures advanced 0.3 percent.
STOCK LINK: The Shanghai Composite Index in mainland China ended 4.3 percent higher and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 2.2 percent after the governor of the People’s Bank of China said in an article that a stock trading link between Hong Kong and China’s second smaller exchange in Shenzhen would be launched this year. The move would further open up Chinese markets to the rest of the world.
GROWTH REPORTS: Gerry Alfonso of Shenwan Hongyuan Securities in Beijing said investors were encouraged by the report, as well as more details from China’s latest five-year plan, an unprecedented meeting between the leaders of China and Taiwan and an upbeat report on China’s services industry. A separate eurozone survey indicated the currency bloc was seeing steady economic growth in October. “There were quite a few positive stories in the market today,” Alfonso said.
ASIAN SCORECARD: Japan’s Nikkei 225 advanced 1.3 percent to 18,926.01 and South Korea’s Kospi edged up 0.2 percent to 2,052.77. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.1 percent to 5,242.30. Markets in Taiwan, India, Singapore and Thailand also rose.
JAPAN JUMP: Shares of Japan Post jumped about 26 percent in their first day of trading after the company and its banking and insurance units raised a combined 1.44 trillion yen ($11.9 billion) in the world’s biggest initial public offering of stock this year. The long awaited sale of shares in the state-owned company is the biggest since Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holdings raised $25 billion in its IPO in September 2014. The Japan Post sale is meant to tease out some of the more than $14 trillion that Japanese have squirreled away in savings accounts.
ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude futures rose 14 cents to $48.04 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract added $1.76 to close at $47.90 a barrel in New York on Tuesday.
CURRENCIES: The dollar rose to 121.28 yen from 121.11 in the previous day’s trading. The euro weakened to $1.0920 from $1.0961.
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