Investing.com - Asian Pacific shares observed moderate gains in early Wednesday trading, reflecting the overnight rise in U.S. benchmarks spurred by a new surge in tech stocks.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 and Japan's Nikkei 225 added 0.3% apiece while South Korea's KOSPI 200 gained 0.7%.
Leading the tech sector's charge overnight was NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA), with a gain of 7.2%. Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) also saw a 12% jump after reporting strong earnings and attributing increased demand for its cloud-computing business to artificial intelligence.
In commodity markets, Brent crude oil was up 0.2% to US$82.36 a barrel, while gold dropped 1.1% to US$2,158.67. In local bond markets, the yield on Australian 2 Year government bonds fell to 3.69%, while the 10 Year yield also declined to 3.94%. U.S. Treasury notes were up, with the 2 Year yield at 4.58% and the 10 Year yield at 4.15%.
In China, shares closed mixed, with the year's Two Sessions described as "underwhelming" by Saxo Markets analysts. Major stocks such as China Mobile and China Telecom fell, while gainers included BYD and S.F. Holding. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index ended 0.4% lower, while the Shenzhen Composite Index and the ChiNext Price Index each gained 0.8%.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 3.05% to close at 17093.50, led by property and technology stocks. Tech gainers included Xiaomi, which climbed 11% on the announcement of the company's new electric vehicle, and JD.com, which gained 7.9%.
Japanese stocks ended lower, dragged down by falls in chip stocks, trading houses, and banks. The Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.1% to 38797.51. Investors focused on economic data, annual wage negotiations, and their policy implications.
India's benchmark Sensex ended slightly higher, with all eyes on domestic consumer inflation data due later in the day for its implications on monetary policy. Technology and financial stocks led gains.
European stocks saw a sharp rise in closing trade, tracking gains in U.S. stocks. The pan-European Stoxx Europe 600 index gained 1% to 506.61, having earlier hit a record intraday high of 506.91. Germany's DAX rose 1.3% and France's CAC 40 gained 0.9%.
The FTSE 100 closed up 1.0% at 7747.81 points on Tuesday. Despite unemployment rising to 3.9%, annual wage growth remained higher than the Bank of England's preference at 6.1%. The day's highest riser was Entain, up 3.8%, followed by Beazley and JD Sports Fashion, up 3.6% and 3.2% respectively.