Asian indexes recover following Wall Street’s green close

Asian markets were mostly higher on Wednesday following a strong lead from Wall Street in the previous session as the global sell-off seems to be losing momentum.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 closed near breakeven after adding more than three percent supported by automakers, technology and financial components.

In South Korea, the Kospi couldn’t hold to early hours gains, extending its decline by 2.31 percent to 2,396.56, with Samsung Electronics falling almost three and a half percent in the day.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was down about 0.75 percent by the time of this writing, with heavyweights such as Tencent recovering, but others remaining on a weak position.

Wall Street top three indexes bounced on Tuesday, ending in green territory. The Dow Jones industrial average was up 2.33 percent to 24912.77, while the Nasdaq composite rose 148.36 points to close at 7115.88. The S&P 500 added 1.74 percent to finish at 2695.14.

On Tuesday, the US Labor Department said the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey for December came in at 5.81 million, below an initially estimated 5.96 million.

In other news, the US trade deficit grew to $53.1 billion in December, adding $2.7 billion from November. The trade balance measures the gap between imports and exports.

<<< Asian Stock Indexes at 08:00 GMT >>>

Australia ASX S&P +51.30 +0.87% 5,981.50

Shanghai Composite -61.39 -1.82% 3,309.26

Hong Kong Hang Seng -126.56 -0.41% 30,468.86

Japan Nikkei 225 +35.13 +0.16% 21,645.37

Taiwan TSEC 50 Index +147.54 +1.42% 10,551.54

<<< Next in Europe >>>

Earlier in the day, Germany’s industrial production figures for December showed a 0.6 percent decline, more than the originally estimated 0.4 percent reduction.

Later on, the United Kingdom will unveil its latest Halifax house price index (Jan) at 08:30 GMT.

<<< Next in the United States >>>

No relevant economic data is scheduled. Investors will be monitoring two speeches by FOMC members Dudley and Williams at 13:30 GMT and 22:20 GMT respectively.

The US Energy Information Administration will release weekly crude and refined products stockpiles as of 15:30 GMT. Overnight, the American Petroleum Institute reported an unexpected drop of 1.050 million barrels in the week ended February 2.

Fort Financial Services