CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - Asian stock markets are mostly higher on Wednesday following the positive cues overnight from Wall Street amid renewed optimism about U.S.-China trade talks and following upbeat corporate earnings results. Reports indicated that U.S. officials will soon travel to China for face-to-face trade talks.
Nevertheless, investors are cautious as they digested news that the U.S. Department of Justice has opened a broad antitrust review of big tech companies to examine whether they are unfairly restricting competition.
The Australian market is extending gains from the previous session. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is rising 44.70 points or 0.66 percent to 6,769.30. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 43.40 points or 0.64 percent to 6,855.90. Australian stocks rose on Tuesday.
In the oil sector, Oil Search is advancing almost 1 percent, Santos is rising 1 percent and Woodside Petroleum is higher by more than 1 percent after crude oil prices rose overnight.
Beach Energy reported strong fourth-quarter production that helped the oil and gas explorer to exceed its full-year production guidance. The company's shares are adding 0.3 percent.
Among the big four banks, ANZ Banking, National Australia Bank and Westpac are higher in a range of 1 percent to 1.5 percent, while Commonwealth Bank is adding 0.5 percent.
In the mining space, BHP Group is rising 0.5 percent, Fortescue Metals is higher by 0.4 percent and Rio Tinto is adding 0.3 percent.
Bucking the trend, gold miners are weak after gold prices declined overnight. Evolution Mining is losing almost 4 percent and Newcrest Mining is declining 0.7 percent.
Pacific Energy has agreed to be acquired by a subsidiary of Brisbane-based QIC Private Capital in a deal valued at A$422 million. The power station operator's shares are gaining more than 35 percent.
In economic news, Australia will provide June numbers for skilled vacancies today.
In the currency market, the Australian dollar is lower against the U.S. dollar on Wednesday. The local currency was quoted at $0.6987, compared to $0.7021 on Tuesday.
The Japanese market is also advancing. The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is adding 106.30 points or 0.49 percent to 21,727.18, after touching a high of 21,744.88 earlier. Japanese stocks closed higher on Tuesday.
The major exporters are mostly higher on a slightly weaker yen. Sony is advancing almost 2 percent, Canon is adding 0.4 percent and Mitsubishi Electric is edging up 0.1 percent, while Panasonic is declining 0.7 percent.
In the tech space, Advantest is rising more than 3 percent and Tokyo Electron is higher by more than 1 percent.
In the auto sector, Toyota Motor is advancing 1 percent and Honda Motor is rising more than 1 percent.
Kyodo News agency reported Tuesday that Nissan Motor plans to cut more than 10,000 jobs globally as part of efforts to turn around its business and is expected to make an announcement along with its financial results on Thursday. Shares of the automaker are advancing almost 1 percent.
In the oil sector, Inpex is higher by more than 1 percent and Japan Petroleum is rising almost 1 percent after crude oil prices extended gains overnight.
Market heavyweight SoftBank is gaining 2 percent, while Fast Retailing is unchanged.
Akebono Brake Industry will close or sell six factories in the U.S., Europe and Japan as well as eliminate about 3,000 jobs under a restructuring plan presented to creditors, the Nikkei business daily reported. Shares of the auto parts supplier are losing more than 4 percent.
Among the other major gainers, Sumco Corp. is rising almost 5 percent, while Taiyo Yuden, Screen Holdings and Fujikura are all higher by more than 3 percent each.
On the flip side, Haseko Corp. and Chiyoda Corp. are lower by more than 3 percent each, while Maruha Nichiro is losing more than 2 percent.
On the economic front, Japan will see final May figures for its leading and coincident indexes, as well as preliminary July numbers for the manufacturing PMI from Nikkei today.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 108 yen range on Wednesday.
Elsewhere in Asia, Shanghai is advancing almost 1 percent, while Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia are also higher. New Zealand, Indonesia, Taiwan are lower, while South Korea is flat.
On Wall Street, stocks closed higher on Tuesday on the heels of reports indicating U.S. officials will soon travel to China for face-to-face trade talks. Citing people familiar with the plans, a report from Bloomberg said U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and a small team of senior U.S. officials will travel to China next Monday. A separate report from CNBC said U.S. officials will travel to China for discussions sometime between Friday and Thursday, August 1.
The Dow climbed 177.29 points or 0.7 percent to 27,349.19, the Nasdaq rose 47.27 points or 0.6 percent to 8,251.40 and the S&P 500 advanced 20.44 points or 0.7 percent to 3,005.47.
The major European markets also moved to the upside on Tuesday. While the German DAX Index surged up by 1.6 percent, the French CAC 40 Index advanced by 0.9 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index climbed by 0.6 percent.
Crude oil futures settled higher on Tuesday amid continued worries about tensions in the Middle East. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended up $0.55 or about 1 percent at $56.77 a barrel.
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