Stock markets across the Asia Pacific region were buoyant after Wall Street finished the previous session with solid gains after Federal Reserve chairman Jay Powell expressed confidence in the outlook for the US economy.
On Wednesday, Sydney’s S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.8 per cent as the mining segment gained 1.6 per cent and financials rose 0.4 per cent. BHP Billiton climbed as much as 3.4 per cent after the Anglo-Australian miner said it was aiming to increase iron ore production as much as 3 per cent during the 2019 financial year.
In Hong Kong, Xiaomi, the Chinese smartphone maker with a dual-class share structure, rose as much as 6.2 per cent after the territory’s stock exchange said it was working with mainland Chinese bourses to address the question of including companies with weighted voting rights in the stock connect programmes linking the markets. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was up 0.2 per cent.
Tokyo’s Topix rose 0.7 per cent as the key industrial segment climbed 0.8 per cent, while Seoul’s Kospi index was up 0.2 per cent.
The S&P 500 index finished Tuesday’s session up 0.4 per cent.
