Asian Markets A Sea Of Green

(RTTNews) - Asian markets are a sea of green on Thursday, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, as South Korea rebounded strongly and markets in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Indonesia surged, with strong gains in technology stocks, which mirrored their peers on tech-heavy Nasdaq. Traders also picked up stocks at relatively reduced levels after the recent sell-off. Asian markets closed mostly lower on Wednesday.

The Australian market is trading modestly higher on Thursday, reversing some of the sharp losses in the previous session, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is moving above the 8,900 level, with gains in financial and technology stocks partially offset by weakness in gold miner and energy stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 16.00 points or 0.18 percent to 8,917.20, after touching a high of 8,964.10 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 23.10 points or 0.25 percent to 9,140.20. Australian stocks ended sharply lower on Wednesday.

Among major miners, Rio Tinto is edging up 0.4 percent, Mineral Resources is gaining more than 1 percent and Fortescue is adding almost 2 percent, while BHP Group is losing more than 1 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Santos is down more than 1 percent, while Beach energy and Woodside Energy are losing more than 2 percent each. Origin Energy is edging up 0.2 percent.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is advancing more than 4 percent, Xero is gaining almost 3 percent and Appen is jumping more than 8 percent, while WiseTech Global and Zip are surging almost 5 percent each.

Among the big four banks, Westpac and Commonwealth Bank are gaining more than 1 percent each, while ANZ Banking is edging up 0.3 percent and National Australia Bank is advancing almost 2 percent.

Among gold miners, Resolute Mining is down more than 1 percent, Northern Star Resources is declining more than 3 percent and Newmont is slipping almost 2 percent, while Genesis Minerals and Evolution Mining are losing almost 3 percent each.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.707 on Thursday.

The Japanese market is sharply higher on Thursday, snapping a three-session losing streak, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is surging 2.7 percent to above the 55,700 level, with gains across all sectors led by index heavyweights, exporters and technology stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index closed the morning session at 55,713.27, up 1,467.73 points or 2.71 percent, after touching a high of 56,619.98 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply lower on Wednesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is jumping almost 6 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is gaining almost 2 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is gaining more than 1 percent and Honda is flat.

In the tech space, Advantest is jumping almost 5 percent, Screen Holdings is advancing almost 4 percent and Tokyo Electron is surging more than 4 percent.

In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial are surging more than 4 percent each, while Mizuho Financial is jumping almost 8 percent.

Among the major exporters, Mitsubishi Electric is surging more than 3 percent, Sony is edging up 0.3 percent, Canon is adding more than 2 percent and Panasonic is jumping almost 4 percent.

Among other major gainers, Nippon Electric Glass is soaring almost 11 percent, while Fujikura and Resona Holdings are jumping almost 8 percent each. Sumco, Mitsui & Co. and Furukawa Electric are surging more than 7 percent each. Mitsui Kinzoku and Denka are advancing almost 7 percent each, while Shin-Etsu Chemical, Yokohama Financial, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Omron are gaining more than 6 percent each.

Conversely, Kyowa Kirin is losing more than 3 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 156 yen-range on Thursday.

Elsewhere in Asia, South Korea is soaring 10.6 percent and Taiwan is up 2.5 percent, while Hong Kong and Indonesia are up 1.7 and 1.6 percent, respectively. New Zealand, China, Singapore and Malaysia are higher by between 0.5 and 0.7 percent each.

On Wall Street, stocks moved mostly higher during trading on Wednesday, partly offsetting the weakness seen in the previous session. The major averages all moved to the upside on the day, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq leading the charge.

The major averages ended the day off their highs of the session but still firmly positive. The Nasdaq jumped 290.79 points or 1.3 percent to 22,807.48, the S&P 500 advanced 52.87 points or 0.8 percent to 6,869.50 and the Dow climbed 238.14 points or 0.5 percent to 48,739.41.

The major European markets also moved back to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index jumped by 1.7 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index both advanced by 0.8 percent.

Crude oil prices surged on Wednesday. West Texas Intermediate crude for April delivery was up $1.13 or 1.51 percent at $75.79 per barrel.