Asia stocks largely rose on Wednesday, with optimism over the reopening of economies as authorities ease coronavirus-induced lockdown measures.
Over in South Korea, the Kospi led gains among the region’s major markets as it rose 2.87% to close at 2,147, with shares of industry heavyweight Samsung Electronics skyrocketing 6.03%. The moves came after South Korea on Wednesday unveiled a 35.3 trillion won ($29 billion) supplementary budget, raising the total stimulus to 270 trillion won as it battles the economic hit from the coronavirus pandemic, according to Reuters.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 also saw decent gains as it advanced 1.29% to finish its trading day at 22,613.76. The Topix index closed 0.72% higher at 1,599.08.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index rose 1.22%, as of its final hour of trading, with shares of Chinese tech juggernaut Alibaba soaring 4.5%. Stocks in mainland China closed little changed, with the Shanghai composite fractionally higher at about 2,923.37 while the Shenzhen component dipped slightly to around 11,108.36.
Shares in Australia also saw gains, with the S&P/ASX 200 up 1.83% on the day to 5,941.60. Australia’s GDP fell 0.3% in seasonally adjusted terms during the March quarter, according to data released Wednesday by the country’s Bureau of Statistics.
Bank stocks in Asia Pacific also jumped amid the investor optimism. In Hong Kong, shares of HSBC gained 2.02% while China Construction Bank rose 0.48%. Meanwhile, Shinhan Financial Group’s stock in South Korea soared 11.72%. Over in Singapore, DBS Group surged 6.83% while Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation gained 4.05%. Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Westpac in Australia jumped 3.25% and 4.36%, respectively.
Overall, the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index rose 1.75%.
