CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - Asian stock markets are a sea of green on Wednesday, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight, amid optimism about an end to the record-setting U.S. government shutdown of 42 days and expectations of the US Fed cutting interest-rate next month. Traders largely shrugged off worries about the economic impact of the shutdown. Asian markets closed mixed on Tuesday.
The Senate had approved a Bill on Monday to potentially end the longest-ever shutdown of the U.S. government.
Trades are now shifting focus to the release of delayed economic reports for clarity on the Fed's policy path. According to CME Group's FedWatch Tool, investors are betting on 67.6% chances of a 25-basis-point interest rate cut in the upcoming December 9-10 Federal Reserve's meeting.
Australian shares are trading modestly higher on Wednesday, reversing the losses in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 staying well above the 8,800 level, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight, with gains in mining and energy stocks partially offset by weakness in technology stocks.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 19.30 points or 0.22 percent to 8,838.10, after touching a high of 8,842.70 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 19.80 points or 0.22 percent to 9,118.20. Australian stocks ended modestly lower on Tuesday.
Among major miners, BHP Group and Fortescue are gaining more than 1 percent each, while Rio Tinto is advancing more than 2 percent and Mineral Resources is soaring more than 9 percent after agreeing to sell a 30 percent stake in its lithium operations to South Korea's POSCO Holdings.
Oil stocks are mostly higher. Santos is adding almost 2 percent, while Woodside Energy and Beach energy are gaining almost 1 percent each. Origin Energy is flat.
In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block and Appen are losing more than 1 percent each, while Xero and Zip are declining almost 2 perrcent each. WiseTech Global is down almost 1 perrcent.
Among the big four banks, Westpac and ANZ Banking are gaining almost 1 percent each, while National Australia bank is losing almost 2 percent and Commonwealth Bank is down more than 1 percent.
Among gold miners, Evolution Mining is advancing almost 2 percent. Newmont and Resolute Mining are up more than 1 percent each, while Northern Star Resources and Genesis Minerals are gaining almost 1 percent each.
In other news, shares in ARN Media are tumbling more than 11 percent after it said full-year EBITDA was expected to be 25 to 27 per cent below last year amid the sharp weakness in the Australian advertising market in the second half of FY25 amid economic uncertainty.
In economic news, the total number of new home loans issued in Australia was up a seasonally adjusted 6.4 percent on quarter in the third quarter of 2025, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Wednesday - coming in at 141,470. That's up from 2.4 percent in the previous three months. On a yearly basis, loans were up 5.8 percent.
Investor home loans jumped 13.6 percent on quarter and 12.3 percent on year at 57,624. The value of new home loans climbed 9.6 percent on quarter and 13.2 percent on year to A$98.0 billion
In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.652 on Wednesday.
The Japanese stock market is trading modestly higher on Wednesday after opening in the red, reversing the losses in the previous session, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is moving well above the 50,900 level, with gains in automakers and financial stocks partially offset by weakness in technology stocks.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index closed the morning session at 50,927.29, up 84.36 points or 0.17 percent, after hitting a low of 50,537.50 and a high of 51,023.49 earlier. Japanese stocks ended modestly lower on Tuesday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is tumbling almost 6 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging up 0.2 percent. Among automakers, Honda is gaining more than 2 percent and Toyota is adding almost 2 percent.
SoftBank Group slumped after selling its entire $5.83 billion stake in US chipmaker Nvidia to refocus on ChatGPT maker OpenAI. The company also cut its holdings in T-Mobile, raising $9.17 billion.
In the tech space, Advantest is losing almost 2 percent, Screen Holdings is edging down 0.5 percent and Tokyo Electron is declining more than 2 percent.
In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mizuho Financial are gaining more than 2 percent each, while Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is advancing more than 3 percent.
Among the major exporters, Mitsubishi Electric is edging down 0.2 percent, while Panasonic is gaining more than 2 percent, Canon is up more than 1 percent and Sony is advancing more than 3 percent.
Among other major gainers, Mitsui Kinzoku is skyrocketing almost 19 percent, JGC Holdings is soaring more than 11 percent, NEXON is surging almost 7 percent and Ajinomoto is jumping more than 7 percent, while Kirin Holdings and Sumitomo Realty & Development are gaining more than 6 percent each. Shiseido is adding more than 5 percent and Fujikura is up more than 4 percent, while Nitto Denko Corp, M3, Olympus, TDK, Takeda Pharmaceutical and Dowa Holdings are advancing more than 3 percent each.
Conversely, Sumco is plummeting almost 18 percent, while Nichirei and Kajima are declining almost 3 percent each.
In economic news, the M2 money stock in Japan was up 1.6 percent on year in October, the Bank of Japan said on Wednesday - coming in at 1,270.1 trillion yen. That was shy of expectations for an increase of 1.8 percent following the downwardly revised 1.5 percent increase in September (originally 1.6 percent).
The M3 money stock rose an annual 1.0 percent to 1,617.8 trillion yen, roughly steady from the previous month. The L money stock climbed 2.2 percent to 2.230 trillion yen, up from the 2.1 percent gain a month earlier.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 154 yen-range on Wednesday.
Elsewhere in Asia, New Zealand, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia and Taiwan are all higher by between 0.2 and 1.1 percent each.
On the Wall Street, stock indexes moved in starkly opposite directions during trading on Tuesday following the rally seen to start the week. While the Dow extended the strong upward move seen on Monday and the S&P 500 recovered from early weakness, the tech-heavy NASDAQ has slipped back to the downside.
The Dow jumped 559.33 points or 1.18 percent to finish at 47,927.96, while the NASDAQ slumped 58.87 points or 0.25 percent to close at 23,468.30 and the S&P 500 rose 14.18 points or 0.21 percent to end at 6,846.61.
Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index rose 0.53 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index climbed 1.15 percent and the French CAC 40 Index gained 1.25 percent.
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