Asian stocks ended higher across the board, boosted by China's upbeat services sector data and high-profile initial public offerings in Tokyo
Traders in Tokyo returned from Tuesday's holiday in a buying mood, as Japan Post Holdings and its
two financial spin-offs -- Japan Post Bank and Japan Post Insurance -- all rallied sharply in their public trading debuts. The warm reception for these names helped offset steep losses for Takata, which could face penalties of up to $200 million from the U.S. Department of Transportation over faulty airbags.
Elsewhere, Hong Kong-listed brokerage names rallied on revived chatter of a tie-up with the Shenzhen market, while Chinese stocks caught a lift after the Caixin China services purchasing managers index (PMI) jumped to 52.0 last month -- a welcome contrast to ongoing weakness in
mainland manufacturing activity. By the close, China's Shanghai Composite jumped 4.3%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng advanced 2.2%, Japan's Nikkei added 1.3%, and South Korea's Kospi edged 0.2% higher.
Rebounding oil prices have pushed most European markets north of breakeven at midday, with energy names leading the charge. Traders are also responding positively to
relatively dovish remarks from European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi. However, Volkswagen is weighing on Frankfurt's main bourse, after the embattled automaker announced newly uncovered emissions irregularities affecting 800,000 vehicles. At last check, the French CAC 40 and London's FTSE 100 are both about 1% higher, while the German DAX is off 0.07%.
