Asian stocks surged on Wednesday, following strong rallies in US and European stocks after Citigroup and HSBC said earnings are improving and China’s factory spending jumped. Futures on the S&P500 Index added 0.3% after the gauge leapt 6.4% in New York on Tuesday, its best gain since November as financial stocks rallied led by Citigroup, which gained 38%.
Asian markets (Wed)
04:35am GMT
Nikkei up 300.03 (4.25%) at 7,355.01
Topix up 19.17 (2.72%) at 722.67
Hang Seng up 319.35 (2.73%) at 12,013.40
US markets (Tues)
DJIA up 379.44 (5.8%) at 6,926.49
Nasdaq up 89.64 (7.07%) at 1,358.28
S&P500 up 43.07 (6.37%) at 719.60
European markets (Tues)
FTSE100 up 172.83 (4.88%) at 3,715.23
Eurofirst 300 up 33.59 (5.11%) at 690.89
Currencies
04:30 GMT
€/$ 1.2644 (1.2657)
$/¥ 98.43 (98.86)
£/$ 1.3684 ( 1.3807)
Commodities (updated)
04:32 GMT
Brent Crude (Apr09) up $0.34 at $44.30
Light Crude (Apr09) up $0.02 at $45.73
100 Oz Gold (Apr09) up $2.40 at $898.30
Copper (3M 24hr) down 40.00 at $3,675.00
10-year government bond yields (%)
US 3.01 (2.90)
UK 3.10 (3.12)
Germany 3.01 (2.92)
Japan 1.31 (1.31)
Sources: FT, Reuters